Charmed in Las Vegas
by Avalon Athena
Summary: Phoebe has a premonition that leads the Halliwel Sisters to Las Vegas. There they meet Sara and Grissom, who unbeknown to them hold magical powers. Can the Charmed ones convince them there is a magical world? crossover with CSI, GSR.
1. Welcome to Vegas

**Author Note: I own none of the characters, only Aelithe is a figment of my imagination. I already posted this story on the CSI section, but someone told me it could be a good idea to post it here also.**

Welcome to Vegas

"Please, make yourselves comfortable. I'll be with you in a second." The voice came from the hallway. Confused Piper, Phoebe, Paige and Leo looked at each other, they had orbed to Las Vegas, but the idea was to orb to an abandoned allay. Now they were in the house of someone, they had never met. And even more peculiar, this person was apparently not amazed by the fact that he or she had visitors that had orbed in. A young woman with straight brown hair walked in holding a tray with a teapot and several cups.: "Do you want some tea?"

"Where are we?" Phoebe asked.

"Well you are in my home of course. Come and sit down."

"Who are you?" Phoebe asked the woman who sat the tray down on the table.

"No one told you?"

"No."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I'm Aelithe." The woman extended her hand in a gesture of welcome.

"You are a witch?"

"Among other things, yes I am a witch. Otherwise I would have responded differently to a sudden appearance in my home."

"I am Piper Halliwel." Piper shook Aelithe's hand. Phoebe, Paige and Leo introduced themselves to Aelithe.

"I know, you are the Charmed Ones. The elders had already alerted me to expect you."

"How did the Elders know we where going to come here?" Paige wanted to know.

"Well that is easy, every witch or wizard coming to Las Vegas first comes through my home." Aelithe explained.

"Why?"

"Because Las Vegas is a different city then the cities where you come from."

"But why here? Why your place?" Phoebe asked.

"Because my job is to show people around in the city. Tell people what to look out for, which demons are active, where they can go for help. I am not only a witch, I am also a Guider."

"A Guider? What is that?" Paige asked.

"A Guider is someone that shows other people around in new area's, help other people on their quests, show new witches the ropes of the trade. A Guider has certain powers to help people get their answers, without them being ready made. Furthermore can a Guider transport her or himself and others, almost like orbing or shimmering."

"Okay. But when we travelled to Egypt, there was no Guider to show us around there." Piper said.

"Well no, Las Vegas is one of the only cities to have people like me, Salem is another."

"So what is special about Las Vegas." Phoebe accepted the cup of tea Aelithe handed her. Before answering Aelithe sipped her tea. "Well Las Vegas is Sin City."

"Yes, so." Paige didn't see any explanation in that sentence.

"You've got to let me finish. Las Vegas isn't Sin City for only the mortal non-magical people. It is also Sin City for magical creatures."

"Why would that mean that we need a special Guider to show us the city?" Piper wanted to know.

"It means that here in Sin City not everything is what it seems. Here a witch could use her powers for her own profit, maybe even curse someone, in the meantime a demon could be the one handing a helping hand. Here demons commit sins by being nice, helpful and not destroying other people, they could be innocent tourists not meaning any harm, while a witch could become your worst enemy."

"So here we could perform magic for our own gain?" Paige clarified.

"Well yes and no. When you are on holiday a certain amount of personal gain is allowed, when you take a holiday from your work you can do things you can't do while at work, but only to a certain amount. When demons and witches come here for a holiday some things are allowed. However we do have demons and witches that live here and go about their normal business, so to minimize mistakes in which demon or witch is called upon to, let say, help, I tell you which demons we have here on holiday and which are residents. But my first question to you is: Are you here for business or pleasure?" Aelitha imitated an airhostess.

"Business." Phoebe replied, she was the one to have gotten the premonition that had lead them to Vegas in the first place.

"Okay, what has lead you to Las Vegas?"

"A premonition I got." Phoebe explained.

"So you have the power of premonition and levitation?"

"Yes. Paige has orbing and telekinesis and Piper has time freezing and blowing up stuff."

"That would make Leo your white lighter?"

"Yes and Piper's husband."

"Of course. So let's go back to your premonition. What did you see?"

"I was hovering over Las Vegas and saw the 'Welcome to Las Vegas' sign. Then I kind of zoomed in on a part of Las Vegas and ended on a crime scene." Phoebe told Aelithe, her sisters had already heard her tell them this. After several seconds of silence, Aelithe asked: "That is it? No indication of a demon or anything?"

"No, that was a bit strange. I did go to a crime scene, but I don't know what kind of a crime was committed there." Phoebe had found the premonition very vague, but something, a feeling had told her to go to Las Vegas as quick as possible.

"So can you help us with it? Seeing as you are a guider." Paige asked.

"Well, I could help, I think that that is the other reason why you came here. The Elders had warned me, but they were unhelpfully vague. However I am not sure whether or not that was because they didn't know anything else or just to humour me. Leo couldn't you go and see what they know?" Aelithe asked. "Sure." And amidst a cloud of blue lights Leo orbed away.

After several minutes Leo was back. "The Elders don't know anything more than us. It has to do with a new power arising or coming to light. But they are not sure whether or not it is good or bad. They want us to find out what it is and help if necessary."

"They don't know anything else? No one we need to seek? No name? Nothing?" Paige demanded to know.

"Nothing, just that we have to work together with Aelithe, she is one of the best." Piper, Phoebe and Paige looked at Aelithe expectantly. Aelithe spoke: "Well it is nice to hear that you are one of the best, but it doesn't help much."

"Apparently you know how to deal with these problems." Piper said, "So where do we start?"

"With the premonition. It is the reason you came here, so there must be more to it. What triggered the premonition, Phoebe?"

"I don't know exactly, there was nothing I was holding. The only thing I can think of is a small blue butterfly, that sat down on my hand."

"Well that doesn't tell us much." Aelithe sighed: "Okay, I think we have to take a closer look at the premonition."

"How do we do that? It felt a bit like something was obstructing the premonition, I can't think of anything else." Phoebe told everyone. Once again Piper, Phoebe and Paige looked at Aelithe. Aelithe seemed to have thought about that and found a solution. "Piper, Paige and me are going to visit your premonition."

"How are you going to that?" Phoebe wanted to know.

"Well, the premonition is locked inside your mind, so Piper, Paige and me are going to visit your mind. We have to say this spell. Leo will stay with Phoebe, you will fall asleep and we need to make sure there is someone who can help you, Phoebe." Aelithe continued, when she saw the question in Phoebe's eyes.

"Is it dangerous?"

"No not at all. But we have to be on our guard and really take in everything: names, dates, people. You don't know exactly when you will return here. The spell goes: _let us in her subconscious take a peek, return us when we find what we seek._ And since we are not completely sure what we seek, it might be a very small detail, we have to remember everything. Okay?" Aelithe looked at Piper and Paige. "Let's do it." Paige answered.

* * *

A brown haired women and a grey haired man drove through the streets of Las Vegas, riding to do their jobs. Riding to a crime scene. The woman didn't feel comfortable.

"What is the matter? You seem nervous." The man said.

"I don't know, I have this strange feeling." The woman answered, looking out of the window.

"What?"

"I feel like a thousand eyes are looking at me."

"Don't worry, it is just us. Everything will be fine." The man didn't say that he had felt the same thing, the feeling that they were being watched and it didn't feel good.

Neither knew that the coming day would change their lives forever.

**Author note: I hope you liked it so far. Please read and review?**


	2. The Premonition

The premonition.

"So are we ready to go?" asked Aelithe when Piper en Paige stood to her sides. They had just made sure that Phoebe was comfortably seated on the sofa. After sharing some looks with each other Piper and Paige nodded. "We have to say the spell together, and remember: try to remember as much as possible." Without much delay the three women stood in front of Phoebe and said the short spell. Piper, Paige and Aelithe were sucked into Phoebe's head and soon found themselves flying over Las Vegas.

_A thousand lights lit up the streets beneath them. Famous billboards soared past. The streetlights pointed them in the right direction__. Paige, Piper and Aelithe noticed that they were getting closer to the streets. Finally they landed in a crowded street. They saw several police vehicles and different cars. Piper, Paige and Aelithe landed at the edge of a crowd of people gathered around yellow crime scene tape. "Okay, Piper you would check out the house, Paige the crowd and I will see if I can find something in the street. Hurry." Aelithe quickly walked off. Aelithe found the name of the street and several house numbers. Further there was not much that caught her attention. Paige walked threw the crowd, there were no faces that stood out. She then went to take a look at some of the police officers. Piper started to walk towards the house, she saw several people huddled together, an African-american man, an older woman with strawberry blond hair, an older man in a suit and a woman with brown hair. The last was not focussing on the group, but on a greying man that had just emerged from the house. Something send shiffers up Piper's spine about these people. Not waiting to further explore those feelings Piper moved up to the house. But as she opened the door she found a black hole. Quickly stepping back Piper turned around and watched the group again. Clearly there was nothing in the house they could find. Piper found herself still observing the brown haired woman and greying man who held each others gazes and just then she felt herself being pulled up and out. _

Landing with a thud on the ground Piper, Paige and Aelithe flew out of Phoebe's head. Shuffling to get their footing back, Piper, Paige and Aelithe stood back up. Paige was the first to speak: "Well, that was different."

"Really? I didn't notice anything." Phoebe said, she had just gotten around and sat up on the couch.

"Everything went okay, Leo?"

"Yes, nothing out of the ordinary happened."

"Okay, let's see what we have learned from this." Aelithe sat down on a chair, while Piper and Paige did the same.

"I'll go first. I know in which neighbourhood this happened. I got the name of the street, but nothing else. Paige, how about you?"

"Well, there were no faces I recognized, but that wasn't much of a surprise. I did get the name of the detective. A detective James Brass. And I saw a newspaper, it was dated in 2004."

"That is three years ago. I had a premonition of the past? Why?"

"Maybe, we have to stop the murder from happening?"

"I don't think so, than we would have been sent back to time, besides I would have seen the actual murder. This was after the murder." Phoebe said.

"Piper, did you find something in the house?" Aelithe turned her attention to Piper.

"There was a big black hole at the other side of the door."

"Anything else catch your eye?"

"Well, there was a small group of people standing on the porch. And two people were looking at each other, I got a bit of a strange feeling with them, but I don't know what that meant."

"So we have a place and a person that has been there. That is not much to go on." Phoebe stroked her hair backwards and when she touched it she got another premonition.

_She is standing on the side of a lecture hall, several students are getting up from their seats and putting their notebooks in their bags. A man with dark brown, curling hair, is clearing the table in front of the seats. The students fill out of the lecture hall, but one young woman with her brown hair in a ponytail is waiting for the man to finish clearing away his stuff. When the man turns he acknowledges her and they shake hands. _

"What did you see?" Paige asked Phoebe. Phoebe recounted the premonition, after she tells what she has seen she elaborated: "I knew the lecture hall, it is in San Fransisco, but it has since been refurnished. I think this happened a couple of years before, quite a few at that, seven or ten years ago." When she is done, everybody looked at each other. Paige was the first to voice her confusion: "So, we are in San Fransisco and Phoebe gets a premonition about something that happened in Las Vegas four years ago. We come here and now Phoebe gets a premonition about something, a meeting, in San Fransisco, that happened what… 7 to 10 years ago? Do we go back to San Fransisco?"

"No, I have a feeling that we are in the right city." Phoebe quickly stated: "What do you think we should do, Aelithe?"

"I think that you should stay here, we figure out what happened four years ago in Las Vegas, talk to detective Brass and then decide on our next step. By the way, detective Brass knows me, he is the only one in the police force that knows my background and what I do. We have a very good clean up crew, but sometimes something falls through the cracks, in those cases I contact Brass and he helps me and vice versa to solve the problems. But I need something more, before we go to Brass. I suggest we check the papers from four years ago, to see if we can find a connection, a name or a crime."

"Do you have a library in the neighbourhood."

"No need, I have access to the archives of several newspapers. It helps a lot in these cases." Aelithe laughed, she then stood and turned on the computer that was standing on a desk in the far corner of the sitting room.

"Well I am going to check the Book Of Shadows, to see if one of the persons I saw was a demon or another magical creature, just to be on the save side." Paige turned to get the Book out of her bag. Piper stopped her: "Can you first take me and Leo to the street were it happened, maybe we can find something there."

"Sure, no problem. Phoebe why don't you start?" Paige, Piper and Leo vanished in a cloud of bleu lights.

* * *

While they were gone Phoebe turned to Aelithe: "Do you have an idea why I had the feeling that something obstructed the premonition?"

"You are worried about that, aren't you?"

"Yes, my power of premonition can sometimes do very odd things. I have learned that when it doesn't feel right, something usually isn't right."

"I do remember that it was extremely foggy when we were visiting the premonition. But I have no idea why. Maybe it was just the weather.'

"The premonition I had just now, was clear, but it only showed to people meeting. Usually a premonition shows more. It was extremely short."

"Phoebe, we don't have a lot of information, I think we just have to be careful. Other than that I wouldn't know what to say. How about we ask Paige to orb to the Elders and ask them."

"Ask Paige to do what?" Paige asked, emerging from the blue lights.

"Could you go to the Elders and ask whether or not they know anything about the obstruction I felt when I got the premonition?" Phoebe told Paige. Paige looked a bit apprehensive. "I think we should let Leo do that, he usually does that, I don't know how to get to the Elders."

"Okay, you are probably right. Well let's see whether the Book can tell us more."

For the next two hours Paige and Phoebe checked the Book and Aelithe was browsing through the Internet to find something related to the premonition. Piper and Leo were walking the street and talked to several people, and then returned, after that Leo went to visit the Elders. They were waiting for his return.

"So I have checked with the Elders, they don't know what may be obstructing the premonitions. There is nothing wrong with your power, Phoebe. They think that it may have to do with the fact that the people we are looking for are not aware of the fact that they are magical and do something to obstruct that or there is a spell on them. Exactly how or why the Elders don't know. It is the only explanation they can give." Leo told them when he was back.

"So we are still in the dark as to who we are looking for. Could it be those people I saw in the second premonition?" Phoebe said.

"Maybe, or they are the instrument to help us find our targets." Paige said: "Anyway, we couldn't find anything in the Book just yet. Maybe when we have more information."

"I found what happened here four years ago."

"We also found a name: Debbie Marlin was murdered, along with her boyfriend." Piper cut in.

"That is also what I found. I think it is time for us to talk to detective Jim Brass. What do you think?" Aelithe looked at Piper, Phoebe and Paige.

"Definitely. Let's go." Everybody got up and got their coats and so they were leaving to find the police station.

* * *

A hand touched her shoulder and she jumped up, holding a hand against her beating heart. "Jesus, don't scare me."

"I'm sorry. I thought you had heard me." The man with the salt and pepper hair looked, worried, in the brown eyes of the woman. "You are still jumpy." It wasn't a question, but an observation.

"Yes, I can't help it. I still feel like thousands eyes are looking at me. I told myself it is just my job and I can do it. There is nothing extra creepy this time, but I am still nervous."

"Relax. Are you done?"

"Yes." The brown haired woman still looked around, almost as if she is expecting to be jumped. "Can we go to the lab? I hope I can relax a bit more there."

"Yes, I will drive you there, then I have to go to the police station. Brass has found a suspect in yesterday's case. Come on, everything will be alright." The man quickly hugged the woman for a moment.

"let's go."


	3. Meeting captain Brass and Dr Grissom

Meeting captain Jim Brass and doctor Gil Grissom

"We're here." Aelithe commented as she killed the engine. While everyone was getting out, Paige asked her: "What kind of a person is this detective James Brass?"

"It's Jim Brass. He is a bit rough around the edges, but he has a good heart. He is an all in all good guy. He is the one I call when a crime falls through our cracks. He knows I am magical, it took him some time to come to terms with that. He still is nervous when the crimes travel into the magical world. But he is okay. Don't let his demeanour fool you, he takes some getting used to and when he sees you are okay he will do a lot for you." Aelithe explained while Piper, Leo and Phoebe got out and they walked to the entrance of the police station.

The group walked through the hallways of the police station, Aelithe walked in front effectively weaving in and out of the many characters crowding the hallways. Cops, regular people coming forward with useful and useless information, criminals being led to the cells or interrogation rooms, escorted by more cops, detectives amicably chatting to other officers, sometimes trading important case-breaking information or just some titbit information on their own lives. The characters didn't phase any of the group, since Piper, Phoebe, Paige and Leo encountered much the same scene's when they went to the police station of San Fransisco to ask the help of Darryl. Aelithe knew her way around and quickly knocked on the door that lead to Brass's office. Luck would have it, that the captain was in fact in his office. So a gruff voice called: "Come in." Aelithe opened the door and stepped in the roomy office, she walked towards Brass's desk. "Hi, Jim." Brass looked up from his work and blinked twice: "Aelithe, my my, what a surprise. What brings you here? You and your friends." Brass nodded to the people standing behind Aelithe. He stood and walked to Aelithe and kissed her cheek three times.

"These are Piper, Phoebe and Paige Halliwel and Leo, from San Fransisco." Aelithe indicated them and then introduced Brass: "This is captain Jim Brass." Brass shook the hands of the Halliwel sisters and Leo.

"Now that we are properly introduced, would you mind telling me how I can help you, Aelithe?"

"The business that brought us here, includes the Halliwel sisters."

"I gathered that as much, is this related to the reason why you so occasionally seek me out, Aelithe?"

"Yes, the Halliwel sisters are also witches, very powerful at that."

"Ah, right." Brass waited for Aelithe to continue, but she didn't do that immediately. She sat down on one of the seats that stood in Brass's office. Brass picked up the conversation: "Do I need to know something about the murders that have occurred the past time?"

"Not as far as I know. We uncovered something that happened four years ago. I don't know whether or not the murder was magical."

"You have got to give me more than 'four years'. Do you have a name?"

"Yes, Debbie Marlin, does that ring any bells." Aelithe noticed the shift in Brass's face, she knew he remembered the case.

"Why do you need to know about Debbie Marlin?" Brass asked.

"We need to find someone who was related to the case, either as a witness or somebody who worked with you on this case. Do you remember anything about the case? Anything odd or out of place? Were there people present who shouldn't be present?"

"Not that I can think of." Brass seemed reluctant to give out information on this case, that much was obvious to Aelithe and Phoebe.

"Are you trying to protect someone, captain Brass?" Phoebe asked, she could feel that Brass wasn't feeling happy about recalling this particular case. "What made you remember the case? Because you obviously remember the case." Brass looked at Phoebe, he could see that she observed him carefully.

"I am sorry, but I can't discuss this case." Brass said.

"Why not, Jim? What is so special about this case? It happened four years ago." Aelithe pleaded with him.

"The killer was never caught, I can't discuss open cases with people not related to the case. I'm sorry Aelithe, I can't help you."

"Jim, this is really important, maybe we can help you find the killer. We need to contact someone who was there. An elderly man and a young woman. Brass, you are the only one who can help us at this point." Aelithe said, Brass stood from his chair and went to stand in front of his window. He looked out and sighed. "Aelithe, we know who did it, we just can't prove it. That makes it difficult."

"Who is it that you are protecting?" Phoebe tried again, knowing she was on the right track.

"I am not trying to protect anyone." Brass stated.

"Yes, you are, why? Do you think they might get in trouble if you told us? Do you think the killer might kill them if you told us? Maybe we can protect them, we have different ways of protecting people, more effective often." Phoebe pressed on, feeling that Brass was getting backed in a corner, she was definitely on the right track.

"No, I am not afraid the killer might kill him, I don't think he has a reason to do that."

"Then what?!" Phoebe stood from her chair and walked towards Brass, who turned around. Phoebe could see a pained look in Brass's eyes. "What happened in that case, that makes you feel that you still need to protect him, after four years?"

"A friend of mine took special interest in the case. It obsessed him." Brass finally admitted.

"Why? What was so special?" Aelithe took over from Phoebe.

"I am not going to tell you that, you need to speak to him. I have a faint idea, but I am not completely sure."

"So to who do we need to speak?"

"Doctor Gil Grissom." Brass said, sounding a bit defeated.

"How can we contact this Doctor Grissom?" Aelithe asked.

"If you stay here, I will get him, he is here on some business." Brass made to leave, but Aelithe stopped him: "Thank you Jim, I know that you don't like to involve other people in our business, but this is really necessary. Thank you."

"Yeah, yeah I know. But you get to explain your reasons for being here. I will just tell him someone wants to speak with him." Brass exited his office.

* * *

Brass quickly located Grissom in one of the interrogation rooms. He was just wrapping up the interrogation of the suspect. When he came out of the room, Brass halted Grissom: "Hey Gil. How did it go?"

"Good, he tried to weasel his way out, but after I relayed the evidence he confessed."

"Great. Another case solved."

"Yes, was that all you needed to know?"

"No, actually, there is someone in my office who wants to speak to you about an old case."

"Could you give them my number? I really want to get back to the lab."

"What is the rush? Your shift is almost over."

"I know, but I want to see Sara before I go home, she was a bit nervous. I want to make sure she is alright."

"It will only take a minute. They came from far, actually from San Fransisco." That spiked Grissom's attention. "Okay, I'll come." Together they walked to Brass's office.

As the door of the office opened the people inside rose and Brass and Grissom walked in.

"Aelithe, this is dr. Gil Grissom. Grissom, Aelithe, she contacts me sometimes on some cases." Brass indicated the mentioned persons and Aelithe and Grissom shook hands, Aelithe noticed a little tingling feeling when she shook Grissom's hand. _Interesting_ she thought.

"You are quite famous here in Las Vegas, dr. Grissom. It is a pleasure to meet you."

"Thank you." Grissom raised a questioning brow to indicate that he wanted to know who the other persons in the office were. Aelithe picked the subtle signal up and introduced the others: "These are Piper, Phoebe and Paige Halliwel and Leo Wyatt. They are from San Fransisco." They all shook hands and after the introductions were over, sat all down. Grissom started: "So, what brought you here in Las Vegas." He directed the question to the Halliwel sisters. Phoebe answered: "I am a reporter (which wasn't far from the truth), and I got an anonymous tip to check out a murder that happened here in Las Vegas. Here we asked Aelithe's help, she is in the same business and had heard from the murder. She led us to captain Brass."

Grissom raised his eyebrows and looked at Brass: "You get help from a reporter?"

"I am a crime reporter and I sometimes hear things that the police is not privy to. So I talk to Brass, anonymously of course." Aelithe tried to cover as much as she could, but she could see that Grissom was not easily fooled. Grissom seemed to let it rest for now and asked his next question: "How can I help you, Brass has all the information that I have."

"The case that I want to write about is the murder of Debbie Marlin." Phoebe saw Grissom's reaction to this information. It was similar to Brass's reaction, he was getting defensive. Clearly this had not been just a case, just a murder, but what made it different. They needed to know.

"Like I just said, Brass has got the same information that I have. Why do you need to talk to me?" Grissom was a little bit intrigued with these people, they were lying about the real reason they were here, but at the same time he felt that they had no choice. They were covering up their real identities. However Grissom was also getting inpatient, he had no time for this, he wanted to get back to the lab and see how Sara was doing. He felt a pressing need to get her home and protect her from what the rest of the day was going to bring. It was irrational, but that was what he felt, like somewhere there was someone lurking around to harm his Sara, and nobody would harm his Sara, not as long as he had anything to say about it.

"Yes, but captain Brass said that you showed a heightened interest in the case, why?" Phoebe still closely observed Grissom, he looked at Brass, but conveyed no emotions. Phoebe choose to further press the issue: "Why was this case so interesting to you? What made it special?"

"I have no idea why captain Brass would say that I was interested in the case." Was Grissom answer.

"If that is so, then why did your demeanour change when you heard the name Debbie Marlin?" Phoebe asked: "Also the demeanour of captain Brass changed when he heard the name Debbie Marlin. What made this case special? Who are you trying to protect?"

"What makes you say I am protecting someone?" Grissom countered the question, he was impressed with Phoebe's insight, but that didn't mean that the whole Debbie Marlin case had to be dragged back.

"Please dr. Grissom, I think we can help protect who you want to protect, but we need you to be honest. Why do you feel the need to protect someone? Are you afraid that the killer might return and kill this person?"

"Why do you think you can protect someone, when the police is the most reasonable source for protecting, if that is needed? What is it that you want?" Grissom was getting a bit impatient, if they thought that he was going to give away information to people he hardly knew, they had another thing coming. Why had Brass insisted on him meeting these people? The atmosphere in the office was cooling down rapidly. Grissom was watching Brass, hoping he could shed some light on the matter, but Brass kept his mouth firmly shut. The other people were looking at each other, at a loss of how to proceed. After a short uncomfortable silence, Piper spook: "Who was the woman you looked at when you came out of the house?"

Grissom looked at her, stunned, how could she know about this? He decided to voice his bewilderment: "How do you know that? Where you there? There were no photographs taken that night. Where did you get that information from? From Brass?"

"No, not from me. I only told them to talk to you." Brass intervened.

"Well, I am done. If you can't give me a legitimate reason for researching this murder, then you are not getting more information from me." Grissom had had enough, he wanted to get to Sara, so he stood and stalked out of the office. Brass followed him.

"Why did you want me to talk to them?" Grissom was not pleased with Brass. Brass could hear that in Grissom's voice.

"I trust Aelithe, but she has a bit of a complex history. I am not going to tell you that, because you wouldn't believe me. It took me quite a while to believe and trust her."

"Well until they can tell me exactly why they want this information, they are not going to get more from me. I am going to the lab. I will see you tomorrow night." Grissom turned around and walked out of the police station.

Brass quickly relayed the last thing Grissom had said to him, to the four women. "I think, that we need to get home and see what our next step is going to be. Thank you Brass, for helping us this far." Aelithe said to Brass.

"One more thing, here is the address of the forensics lab, Grissom works there at night. But Aelithe you will have to be straight with him, otherwise he is not going to help you. He has seen a lot of strange things, he will be open to it, more so then me in the beginning. I hope you find what you need to find."

"Thank you Jim. I'll see you around."

"Absolutely. Bye." Brass let his visitors out of his office and then pulled out the file he had on Debbie Marlin to take the information in one more time. Maybe he could find something else, now that he knew where to look.


	4. A Biblical text in the Book of Shadows

A biblical text in the Book of Shadows.

"Well we just hit another dead end." Paige moaned, frustrated, as she entered Aelithe's home, after a silent ride in the car. The others were shrugging of their coats, Aelithe and Piper went to fix something to drink in the kitchen and Phoebe grabbed the Book of Shadows.

"We didn't hit a dead end, Paige." Phoebe commented.

"No, well this guy doctor Grissom isn't going to talk to us. So it is a dead end." Paige whined, throwing herself on the couch.

"I think we got quite some information from captain Brass and doctor Grissom." Phoebe calmly said: "Let's wait for Aelithe and Piper and discuss what we have heard. Don't be inpatient." After several minutes Aelithe and Piper walked into the living room, carrying a tea tray, with drinks. They quickly sat down and passed around the drinks.

"So lets see what we got from Jim and dr. Grissom." Aelithe said.

"Dr. Grissom was the person I saw in the premonition, he was the man with the salt-and-pepper hair." Piper told the rest.

"Yes, he is also the guy I saw in the other premonition. A bit older, but still the same." Phoebe said.

"So is he the man we needed to find?" Paige asked.

"I have no idea, he might be." Aelithe said.

"I think that there is more to it, he is not the only one we needed to find."

"What makes you say that, Piper?"

"Well, in the premonition he was with that woman. No… he wasn't with the woman, but my gut instinct tells me that the woman is also important. Plus, he was very reluctant to talk about the case of Debbie Marlin."

"Yes, both he and captain Brass became very defensive upon hearing that name." reacted Phoebe: "Hey, could the woman be the same as the one I saw in the other premonition?"

"It could be, but I would need to see her." Responded Piper.

"Well, lets do that. You go and have a peek in my subconscious, Piper." Phoebe said.

"Okay, or could that hurt her, Aelithe, using that spell to often?"

"I think it would be fine, you are not trying to change anything. I must say that I have never used that spell more than once on a person, but I think it wouldn't hurt." Aelithe explained.

"Okay, we'll do that. Since it was a short premonition it shouldn't take long." Phoebe said. With that Phoebe sat comfortably in the couch and Piper recited the spell, she got sucked into Phoebe's head, who was asleep by that time. The others just watched and waited for Piper to return. After a short period she came back and Phoebe woke up.

"I think it was the same woman. She was a lot younger, but I think it was the same." Piper said.

"So we know that those two people were present in the two premonitions. Then there is a good chance that we need to find them both. But why?" Paige wondered out loud.

"I have no idea." Phoebe said as she started to flip through the Book of Shadows. Piper and Aelithe got up to clear away the cups and Paige started to walk up and down the room, mulling over everything that has been said, heard and seen.

After a few minutes Paige started to get annoyed by the constant flipping of pages, that Phoebe turned. Just as Piper and Aelithe returned, Paige fell out to Phoebe: "Can you stop that constant flipping?! What are you doing anyway?" disturbed Phoebe looked up, she was slightly taken back by Paige's outburst.

"I am just looking. Relax. There is nothing we can do, until we speak to dr. Grissom." Phoebe tried to sooth Paige, who immediately countered that with a question aimed at everyone: "When can we speak with dr. Grissom?"

"I have no idea, I'll call Brass and see if he can tell us dr. Grissom's schedule." With that Aelithe retreated to the hallway, to get the cordless phone. She was already on the phone when she sauntered back in to the living room: "Hey Jim, listen I've got one question…yeah…When would be a good time to talk to Doctor Grissom?... Oh great, so that is why you know him, he works the same hours as you…Okay, do we need to come to the police station?... No, let me get a pen…ready…Can we just go to the front desk?... Yeah, great thanks Brass…okay, thanks for the tip…I hope we can get what we need, I can't stress how important it is… Yeah, I know, we will tell him the truth. Say can I tell him you know? It might help him a bit… Yeah, thanks….I promise, when all this is done and we are still in one piece, I'll take you for some drinks…. Yes, I know it has been a long time, I have been busy. And so have you I believe….Yes, goodbye Jim and thanks again." With that Aelithe put the phone down. The others were looking up at her expectantly, so Aelithe quickly told them the information she got from Brass: "It turns out that Doctor Grissom works the same hours as Brass, the nightshift. Furthermore Dr. Grissom works at the forensics lab, we will need to talk to him there. According to Brass we have to be patient with Dr. Grissom, he needs some getting used to, but if we are honest with him we increase our chances at getting what we need from him. Tonight at the beginning of the shift was the best time to try and get to talk to dr. Grissom." Phoebe had halfway down Aelithe's talk resumed flipping through the pages of the Book of Shadows.

"He, Phoebe, why are you flipping through the Book of Shadows?" Piper asked, now getting curious, just like Paige. Phoebe looked up and sighed: "Well, earlier when Paige and I were going through the Book to see if we could find anything related to what we had seen in the premonition, I saw a page I had never seen."

"What do you mean? Never seen? You know the Book from cover to cover." Paige said, remembering the various times that she had seen Phoebe pouring over the Book, she was right if anyone knew what was in the Book it was Phoebe.

"Well that wasn't all, the page was blurry, I thought as we needed to wait I would try to find that page again. Then again, maybe it was a page I have seen and it went by to fast to really see it." Phoebe explained while she kept flipping the pages over, suddenly yelping: "I found it, I have never seen this page before. And it is blurry, look at this." Phoebe turned the Book so the others could also see the page. It was a blurry page, it looked like someone had spilled water over it and the ink had run. But there were to figures standing on one side and writing filled the rest of the page. Phoebe was only partly right though, as Paige quickly pointed out: "He, that figure isn't blurred and it looks exactly like Doctor Grissom." The others looked at the figure on the left and saw that Paige was right. Doctor Grissom stood with his legs slightly apart, his hands in his pockets. He wore a basic black suit with a black shirt, the only colour was a red line, that was shown by the handkerchief neatly folded in the breast pocket of his jacket. He had a light beard on his face, but he was unmistakably Doctor Gil Grissom, whom the women had just met in Brass's office. The figure to the right was blurry, as were several patches of writing but to the bottom of the page some writing was clear and Phoebe read it out loud: "_Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres._" With a large sigh Piper, Phoebe, Paige, Aelithe and Leo sat back in their seats. Paige was the first to break the silence: "So where does this fit in the picture?"

"I have no idea." Phoebe said, "but it is the first time I see a biblical text in the Book of Shadows. 1 Corinthian 13, if I am correct."

"You are." Aelithe silently nodded.

"Well this proves one thing." Piper said, sitting up and looking around the room, before continuing: "It proves that we are on the right track. And it proves that this Doctor Grissom is related to the magical world, but in which way, I am not sure."

Aelithe picked up where Piper left: "I remember feeling some magical powers, when I shook Dr. Grissom's hand. But it was very faint, like he had never exercised those powers, maybe he isn't even aware of the fact that he has magical powers or a curse prevents them from presenting themselves. Maybe I could get a stronger feeling when we meet him again."

"What do you mean, you felt magical powers?" Paige inquired.

"It is part of my powers as a Guider, I can feel whether or not someone possesses magical powers, but usually those feelings are stronger then what I felt with dr. Grissom." Aelithe explained.

"Leo, can you check with the Elders, whether or not they have found additional information for us?" Paige said, but Piper responded: "Maybe we should wait until we have spoken to Dr. Grissom. That way we will also have some more information."

"I think that would be the best thing to do. Lets get some rest first and then we can talk to dr. Grissom for a second time." Aelithe spook up.

"Lets eat something before we get some sleep, can I help you Aelithe?" Piper asked, when she saw that Aelithe was getting up to get something to eat from the kitchen. Without waiting for an answer Piper, Phoebe and Paige followed Aelithe into the kitchen, where they prepared a quick meal. While eating it the four women and Leo got to know each other a little bit better and discussed the task ahead for a little while, quickly reaching the conclusion that they were getting not much further. After doing the dishes Aelithe showed the Halliwell sisters and Leo their rooms, she promised to wake them in time to get to the forensics lab. With that peace and quiet descended on the house that stood on the edge of the bustling city of Las Vegas, as people who worked normal hours got up and ready to get to work.

* * *

In another townhouse in Las Vegas, two people were also sitting down for dinner. The brown-haired woman told the man sitting across from her about the work she had done in the lab. As she laid her fork down when she finished eating she curiously looked up, at the man who was just getting ready to eat his last bite. "Gil, are you listening?" she asked.

"What? Yes I am listening, you were telling me about the lab, right?" Grissom looked at his companion: "Are you done?"

"Yes." As the man stood he took both plates from the table and kissed the woman on the head as he passed her on the way to the kitchen. "Do you want a dessert?"

"Some yoghurt and fruit." The man returned and placed the dessert in front of the woman, who resumed the conversation: "What happened at the police station?"

"Why would something have happened there?"

"Ever since you returned you are distant. What is on your mind?"

"Nothing."

"That doesn't work with me, and you know it. What happened?" Grissom could see she wasn't going to back down.

"Brass wanted me to meet four women who had asked to see me."

"What did they want?"

"They wanted information on a case." Grissom hoped that it would satisfy her, but he knew her better then that and knew it was in vain.

"What case?"

"The Debbie Marlin case."

"That was four years ago. Why did they want to get details on that case?"

"They didn't want to tell me." Grissom saw the woman walking to the kitchen taking the remaining dishes with her. He continued: "I didn't give them what they wanted."

"But something rattled you. What was it? Beside dredging up that particular case?"

"One of them asked who the woman was, that I looked at when I came out of the house. Thank you." Grissom accepted the glass of wine she gave to him and together they walked to the couch.

"That would be me, how did they know about that moment? Where they there at the scene?"

"I don't think so, three of them were from San Fransisco, the man as well. Only one was local, she knew Brass, pretty well I think. He said she sometimes helped him on cases. That is why I didn't believe them when they told me they were reporters." Grissom put his arm around her shoulders and she snuggled up to him.

"So what did they do when you didn't want to give them what they needed?"

"I told them that I was willing to think about giving them the information, when they would be honest to me about the reasons they had for digging into the past."

"Okay, do you think they will be back?"

"Yes I think so. I'll deal with them, when they do. Want to watch Discovery Channel?"

The woman giggled: "What is on? Another documentary on insects?"

"Yes, quite interesting, it is about Killer Bees."

"So I have to suffer through an hour long documentary and the subsequent commentary I am bound to get from you?" she teasingly asked.

"Ah, yes my dear. But I know that you love my commentary, because you always listen very intently. And it's one of the many things that I love about you, miss Sara Sidle." Grissom said as he turned on the television and closed his arms around Sara as the interesting tale of the Killer Bees unravelled on their television screen. Pushing a nervous day and four strange women in the back of their minds.


	5. We are witches

We are witches

Paige awoke when she heard a constant knocking on her door. "Paige, get up and get dressed. We have an hour before we have to leave for the forensics lab." Phoebe called out. Groggily Paige got up and opened the door, on the other side was an already fully dressed and sickenly cheerful Phoebe. "Phoebe, what do you want?!" Paige was a slow riser and didn't like to be awoken, plus with the time difference and the late hour, Paige felt slightly jet lagged, if that is even possible with orbing.

"Like I said, we have to get going in an hour. Aelithe is already downstairs in the kitchen, you can get some breakfast or dinner or whatever, man this schedule is messing with my perception of time, down there. Piper and Leo are getting dressed, there is a bathroom just across the hall. Don't look at me like you are going to kill me. We didn't know that dr. Grissom worked the nightshift." Phoebe said, sounding way to cheerful according to Paige.

"Fine, I'll get dressed, see you downstairs." With that Paige slammed the door shut and started to get some clothes to throw on. Phoebe went downstairs, smiling to herself, Paige had always had trouble getting up in the morning.

* * *

"Griss, are you done feeding the bugs?" Sara called out, as she petted Hank on the top of his head, as he inspected the contents of his bowl.

"Yes I am done, lets go, shift starts in thirty minutes and I need to check some paperwork." Grissom sighed as he got his coat and Sara's coat from the hallway. He held up her coat and she slithered in. She grabbed the keys of the counter and put her bag on her shoulder. Together they walked out and Grissom locked the door, while Sara started the car. They moved in sync as they did often, not just while working a crime scene, but also in home. They neatly anticipated each others moves and completed them for each other. An outsider would think that they had practiced that for many, many years, but for Grissom and Sara it came as naturally as walking, they had been able to do it ever since the first time they had met. Even now their colleagues would be astonished at the ease with with they moved around each other, even though their colleagues had seen it now for over 7 years.

* * *

After an hour an unknown vehicle parked outside the forensic lab, four women and a man climbed out and stood for a moment looking at the building they were going to enter. After several moments they walked to the entrance. Aelithe looked around and spotted the reception desk, together with the others she walked to the woman who occupied the reception desk.

"Hello, can I help you?" she politely asked.

"Yes, we are looking for doctor Grissom. Is he in?" Aelithe asked.

"Do you have an appointment?"

"No, but captain Brass told us we could come here to talk to him." Aelithe said.

"Captain Jim Brass?"

"Yes, we met doctor Grissom yesterday, but we have some other questions."

"Ehm, right." The hesitation on her face was evident. Piper, Phoebe, Paige and Aelithe had felt it was better to try and get in without magical help. They wanted to talk to Dr. Grissom without him wandering how they got in. It would be difficult enough to explain the magical world to him, without complicating matters by using magic to get in. Patiently the women waited for the receptionist to make up her mind. "Okay, I'll bring you, just a minute." The young women spook to someone who was seated behind her and then got up. "Come on, I saw Grissom coming in. You are in luck he is early today, a year ago that would be normal, but now with Sara, he is getting in on time rather then early." They walked through the hall, the lab had an open feeling, because of the large windows everywhere. After two turns the receptionist stopped in front of a door and knocked. From inside the office an answer came: "Yes?" The receptionist opened the door slightly and poked her head around the corner: "Sorry to disturb you dr. Grissom, but there are some visitors who want to talk to you."

"It's okay Judy, who are the visitors?"

"Four women and a man, they have no appointment, but were directed here by captain Brass."

"Okay, let them in Judy. And thank you." Judy turned to face Aelithe: "Okay, you may go in. When you leave could you please come to me and say so?"

"Sure, thank you, Judy is it?"

"Yes. You are welcome." With that parting comment Judy opened the door and let them in, after that quietly closed the door and left.

Paige remembered the various ingredients rooms the Magic School had, when she entered the office of Dr. Gil Grissom. It was as cluttered with glass jars with contents that were to creepy to really take a good look at and several terrariums with living creatures. The walls were coated with mounted insects, spiders and butterflies, had several newspaper clippings and other paraphernalia. It seemed as if only a small portion of the office was dedicated to work as there stood a desk and two chairs. The man who was sitting behind the desk lifted his head as they invaded his privacy, he looked over the rim of his glasses, but it was unmistakably the same man they had met yesterday. Paige noticed his blue eyes which were observing the people, who entered his sanctuary. As he started to stand he spoke: "Ah, I thought it would be you, captain Brass doesn't normally direct people here, but with you I am not surprised. I am sorry, but I only have two seats here." He extended his hand and Paige who had entered first, shook it and responded: "Well, we do have to talk to you dr. Grissom."

"You may call me Grissom, I am sorry, but I seem to have forgotten your names."

"Paige Halliwell and these are my sisters Phoebe and Piper Halliwell, Pipers husband Leo Wyatt and a friend from us Aelithe."

"Do you have a family name Aelithe?"

"Salome." Aelithe said as she sat down next to Phoebe. The others remained standing. The small office seemed to get even smaller, as if it was not meant to carry more then three people.

"I am going to assume that you want to talk about the Debbie Marlin case?"

"Yes, we need to talk to you about that case."

"Why? What made you want to know something about the Debbie Marlin case?" Grissom looked at the people standing in his office, he needed to hear a good reason, before he was going to disclose any information on the Debbie Marlin case. But before the others could answer him, someone knocked on the door. Grissom focused on the door and called out: "Come in?" A woman with brown hair opened the door and started to talk, without looking up from a file she was reading in: "Gil, why is your door cl…" in the middle of her sentence she stopped, because she had looked up and found Grissom's office more crowded then it had ever been. Immediately she started to apologize, as the four women and man, turned to look at her. Piper at first meant to only briefly glance at the women, but quickly did a double take.

"I'm sorry Grissom, I thought you were free, there were no meetings scheduled. I'll come back later." Sara said, as she made to leave the office.

"No, it is okay. Is that the report you wanted to give me?" Grissom and Sara had been working together, but she had needed to print out a report.

"Yes, it only needs your signature." Sara handed Grissom the report: "By the way, I was stopped by Judy, she said that Warrick and Catherine needed to get to court today, their case has been rescheduled for today. And Ecklie called, he said that the meeting for the supervisors has been rescheduled as well, it will be tomorrow afternoon."

Grissom groaned: "He does know I am the nightshift supervisor, right? I mean that is in the middle of the day. Wait, why didn't he call me on my cell?"

Sara grinned: "He did." She said as she produced a cell-phone from her pocket, showing it to him. Grissom quickly shuffled some papers around, finally locating a similar cell-phone, closely examining it he also smiled. Sara made her way through the other people in Grissom's office and handed him the file and his cell-phone. "Could you put these in Ecklie's post and give these to the archive, please?" Grissom asked as he handed Sara several files and her cell-phone. "Oh, could you call Warrick and Catherine, to tell them about court?"

"Sure, but don't get used to me, running all your errands. If you need me, I'll be in the break room." With that Sara closed the door behind her and walked of, leaving the other women to turn around and face Grissom again.

After a short silence, in which Grissom checked his phone and placed Sara's report on his paperwork, Piper softly spoke up: "She is the one you were or are thinking about, when you become defensive in the Debbie Marlin case, isn't she?" Startled Grissom looked up: "What do you mean?"

"She is the woman you were looking at, when you exited Debbie Marlins home. And the one you met in San Fransisco, several years ago?"

"Where did you get that information from?" Grissom asked, shocked at the intimate details Piper was telling him.

"That is going to be difficult to explain to you. And you might not believe us." Aelithe said.

"I still have thirty minutes before I have to start the nightshift and as for believing you, try me." Grissom calmly said, determined to find out how these strange women were going to explain themselves.

"We would like to have her present as well, so we don't have to tell the whole story twice." Paige said, as she indicated with her head towards the door.

"What makes you think that she needs to hear this?" Grissom wondered, still not sure what to make of these women and in his business, that usually meant you had to be on guard. Add to that the fact that Sara had already experienced some trauma caused by the people he and her encountered on a daily basis and Grissom was going to make sure that Sara wasn't going to be exposed to something he didn't trust. Grissom wasn't going to get Sara to come here and listen to these women unless it was absolutely necessary.

Phoebe started to talk: "Because you two are connected. I want to bet that anything odd that happens to you during the night, you tell her and vice versa. And she won't believe our story until she hears it from us, or better yet see some proof." Although Phoebe had had a strong feeling about these two, she was completely bluffing, but after battling with demons, warlocks and men for the last eight years, she was pretty good at bluffing. Little did she know, that the man sitting across from her was a good poker player and was used to getting bluffed at.

"Nice bluff, but you don't know anything for sure, do you?" Grissom called her bluff. Paige decided to make an end to this, they were losing valuable time on this verbal game. Time they needed to figure out what was going on in the magical world. "Mister Grissom, please trust us on this. Captain Brass trust us, trusts Aelithe, why won't you trust us?"

"Because I don't know you." Grissom responded truthfully.

"That is right, but captain Brass does know Aelithe, don't you trust him?" Paige reasoned.

"Yes I trust Brass, but that doesn't automatically mean I have to trust everyone he trusts." Grissom countered.

"Fine, whatever. Listen up, we want to tell you the truth, we just want her to be here to. What would be so bad about it?" Grissom could see that Paige was getting frustrated. He had to hand it to them, they had remained calm for quite a long time, but now their patience was being sorely tested. Paige tried one more plea: "Mister Grissom, this is really important and we are willing to tell you, but we want to tell her in the same time, so we don't lose precious time further down the line. Please ask her to join us."

Aelithe said one last thing: "Call Brass, he will vouch for me." Grissom could see that she was serious. _Fine Grissom thought the sooner we get this done, the sooner we can get back to work_. "I'll get her." Grissom briskly rose from his chair and flipped open his cell-phone, pressing a speed dial: "Brass…" The four witches didn't hear the rest of the conversation. Paige turned to Aelithe: "So what does your magical power sensor say?"

"Yes to both. We are going to have to tell them about the magical world."

Several minutes later Grissom returned with Sara, who closed the door. "Okay, Piper, Phoebe and Paige Halliwell, Leo Wyatt from San Fransisco and Aelithe Salome from Las Vegas, this is Sara Sidle, CSI in Las Vegas. We are here, you have twenty minutes to explain yourselves, before I call the security." Grissom introduced everyone and made his way back to his desk as the women observed each other. Sara looked at the four women curiously, they were all quite tall, had dark hair and were beautiful. The name Halliwell sounded familiar, but she couldn't immediately place it. The four witches in turn took in Sara's appearance. Paige could see that Sara was curious as to why she was asked to join them here and she could see that she was trying to place something. Sara walked over to Grissom and went to stand next to him.

"I heard from Grissom that you wanted information on the Debbie Marlin case."

"That is right, but we have to explain why, before we get the information." Phoebe told her.

"Seems fair, we are not allowed to hand out information on cases to anyone without a good reason." Suddenly something seemed to connect in Sara's head as she swiftly turned her head to Piper, whom she had correctly taken for the eldest of the sisters. "Wait a minute, the Halliwell sisters from San Fransisco. I know you." To say that the others in the office were surprised would be something of an understatement. All heads swivelled to Sara

"You know them?" Grissom asked.

"You know us? From where?" Paige wanted to know.

"From San Fransisco. Remember I had told you about those cold cases I needed to take a look at, Grissom? Al those cases had one commonality: the Halliwell sisters were involved in all of them. But nobody could ever prove whether or not they were the perpetrators. Actually, one detective vouched for them, I can't remember his name. Anyway there was nothing we could get them for." Sara explained.

"Darryl told us that someone was going to investigate the cold cases in which we were involved, even when only in the slightest. We were not really bothered, since we were constantly being investigated, there was and still is nothing to find on us. But Darryl was worried, because they had put the best on our cases, that was a couple of years ago. But she had to leave abruptly to do another job in another city. We never met her, but that was you?" Phoebe asked, reciting the story. Grissom looked at the four women sitting in his office and with slight alarm in his eyes, but always on guard, asked: "Who are you? Or what are you?"

"What are you, is more appropriate. We are witches and we believe that you both also have magical powers." Piper said, leaving Grissom and Sara speechless.


	6. Introducing the magical world

Introducing the magical world

After Piper's announcement, Grissom and Sara were speechless. Unsure Sara glanced at Grissom and saw in his eyes the same surprised, guarded, confused and intrigued look, as she was sure was now also evident in her eyes. She and Grissom locked eyes for a few moments, not sure how to proceed next, but feeling that both were thinking the same things and felt the same emotions. Still looking at Grissom, with confusion written on her face, Sara began to talk: "You are witches and you believe that Grissom and I have magical powers?" she said as she turned her head to look at Piper.

"Yes. That is correct." She confidently said.

"Well that doesn't add up. Witches by Wiccan way don't attribute magical powers to themselves or other persons. They attribute magical powers to nature." Sara said, looking at Piper. Sara remembered the time she had encountered a mental patient in a confined space, it had almost cost her her live. These people were making her feel exactly the same way, Sara didn't like the feeling. But at the same time she felt Grissom turning his attention to her, clearly surprised by this admission of knowledge, in her defence Sara turned her attention to him and said: "What?! I lived in San Fransisco! I had to do an investigation to these people here. Is it that odd for me to have knowledge on the Wiccan way? For God's sake you are knowledgeable on corsets! Give me a break." Sara laughed, seeing the glint in Grissom's eyes as she recalled his knowledge on corsets.

"You misunderstand us, we are not witches by Wiccan way." Piper admitted, effectively getting Grissom and Sara to turn their attention back to her.

"You are not witches by Wiccan way? Then by which way are you witches?"

"By the magical way."

"You will have to come with something more then "the magical way" to convince us." Grissom said, while he motioned Sara to sit on his desk, which she promptly did.

"Miss Sidle, maybe you can help me explain?" Piper looked at Sara.

"How might I do that?" to say that Sara was sceptical would be a slight understatement.

"Well, what was in those cases you investigated that made you conclude that we could not be pinned for those crimes?"

"I can not disclose specific information on those cases." Sara said.

"We have seen the cases and the evidence the police has on our name, and I am sure that mister Grissom will be discrete with the information."

"That doesn't matter."

"Well maybe there were strange but in descript facts that you found extremely interesting, facts that were seen in several cases, not just one. That wouldn't be specific to a case, would it?" Piper argued, willing Sara to tell them what had caught her eye, by that way they could show how those things came to being, namely with magic. Unsure Sara looked at Grissom, who with a small nod, told her that would be fine. This information wasn't going to get out in the open. With a sigh Sara gave in: "Okay, well for example, I had found several footprints, the matched yours, but they only led towards the scene, never away, as if you had disappeared into thin air. There were no car tracks or motorcycle tracks, to indicate that you had left with a car or a motor or any other means of transport."

"We can orb, we disappear and appear back home or somewhere else, in that way we can quickly travel from one place to another."

"Or leave the scene of a crime, without throwing suspicion on yourselves." Sara countered.

"You could see it that way, were there other things?" Piper asked, not denying the things Sara said.

"On other cases, I found evidence of small, well placed explosions, but there were no materials that could cause those explosions. Those explosions would have blown up only a small area in the room, sometimes only a vase. And sometimes the victims would have very strange wounds. In some cases the coroner was sure that the person had died from a high voltage shock, but there was nothing in the crime scene that could give that kind of shock. And I remember one case were the victims bled out through tearing of all blood vessels, no one could give a cause for that kind of tearing." Sara continued.

"I can blow things up and those strange causes of death were, most likely due to the interference of demons." Piper stated matter-of-factly. That admission only served to further worry Grissom more, as he started to wonder whether or not he should call security or the mental hospital. The more he listened to these people, the more he thought that these people only saw these things happen in their fantasy. He also started to worry about Sara's safety as he remembered how in the mental hospital she could have easily lost her live to Adam Trent. In order for them to get to the door, they had to get past these four women and man. Sara could feel the uneasiness that Grissom felt, but she could see that he was keeping that hidden very well. _Keep these people talking_ Sara said to her self as she addressed Piper once more: "Demons?"

"Yes, demons, all they want is power and might, no matter how they get it. They live in the underworld. We battle with them frequently." These things were a daily occurrence for Piper and her sisters, but for the persons they were trying to explain all this to it was something from the realm of fantasies and fairytales. Phoebe could see that they were getting nowhere fast, with only talking. She could feel that Grissom and Sara were feeling uneasy and felt like they were talking to a couple of lunatics. She saw Grissom reach for the telephone: "Mister Grissom, don't call yet, tell me how we can prove to you that what we are saying is real and not just a fairytale." Deep in thought Grissom looked at Phoebe as he pondered what would be needed to persuade Sara and him that what these people were saying was real. He quickly looked at Sara, who with a small nod told him to proceed, once again they were on the same level. "Show us." Grissom challenged them.

"Okay." Phoebe calmly accepted the challenge Grissom had laid before them. "Let's go to the hallway."

"Why?" Grissom asked, reluctant to leave the confines of his office and trying to keep this lunacy right here, not out there were they would surely draw a crowd.

"Because we need a little bit more space." Phoebe explained, turning to leave the room, while Paige, Piper, Aelithe and Leo turned to follow her. The group gathered in the hall, were there was the usual buss of the various people walking and talking to each other, the sound of several machines and printers and the occasional cell-phone. Some people curiously looked at the group that came piling out of Grissom's office, but no one came up to greet them. Piper stepped to the front, making sure that Sara and Grissom could see her. She quickly flipped up her hands and the entire hallway froze. Confused Sara and Grissom looked around them, until they realized that no one was moving. They saw Warrick and Catherine who were just turning the corner, they were frozen mid step. In the various labs the lab rats were also frozen in time, Jackie was in the middle of taking a sip of coffee and Bobby had just fired a firearm, the bullet was frozen in space. Sara and Grissom turned around and took the scene in. Grissom was the first to ask Piper what she had done.

"I froze time, I can freeze time and accelerate it, in such a way that the things I point at explode. That would account for the evidence for explosions that you found Sara."

"You can make things explode, by pointing at them?"

"Yes, I can show you, do you have something that you don't need anymore, or you can go without?" Sara felt around in her pockets, finally finding a pencil, which she wanted to hand over, but before she could give it to Piper it vanished into a small cloud of blue lights. Sara looked at Piper questioningly, but Grissom had heard Paige say: "Pencil." While she held out her hand, and sure enough Sara's pencil materialized in Paige's hand. So Grissom said: "No, Paige has it, look." Sara looked at Paige's hand and saw her pencil lying there.

"How did you do that?"

"I can do telepathy and orb. But first I'll let Piper explode the pencil." With that she handed the pencil to Piper. Piper threw it in to the air and flicked one hand at it, causing the pencil to explode. Sara and Grissom looked at it, stunned.

Piper, Phoebe, Paige, Leo and Aelithe in turn looked at the reaction Grissom and Sara were having on the display of magic. Paige decided to give them one last show, she quickly grabbed Sara at her wrist. Sara turned towards Paige and started to ask her to let her go, but before she could finish she and Paige disappeared in a cloud of blue lights. Grissom had also turned and seen what happened, he was extremely worried when Paige and Sara disappeared, angry he turned around to face Piper, but she just pointed to the far side of the hallway. Grissom turned and to his great relief, saw a cloud of blue lights from which Sara and Paige appeared. Sara was still turned to Paige and appeared to finish the sentence that she had started. Then Sara realised that she and Paige were no longer in the group, confused Sara looked around and found that they were on the other side of the hallway. She and Paige walked towards the group, Sara saw that the other people in the hallway were still frozen in time. When they returned to the group, Grissom and Sara locked their eyes, as they had done so many times before, and Sara tried to reveal to Grissom that she was al right, but this time Grissom needed to hear it, so he asked: "Are you alright, Sara?"

"Yes, I am fine, I didn't even know what was happening. But this does explain the missing footprints." Sara said. Grissom put his arm around her shoulder and turned to the Halliwell sisters: "Okay, you have given us much to think about, what do you want from us?"

"We want to talk to you." Piper said.

"About the Debbie Marlin case?" Grissom asked.

"Yes, I think that would be a good starting point." Piper said.

"A good starting point for what?"

"Hopefully for finding some answers."

"You are not sure what you are looking for, do you?" Sara asked.

"No, but we are sure that you two are key players." Phoebe answered.

"How come?"

"I have the power of premonition and I had a premonition of the Debbie Marlin case, that premonition led to you." Phoebe explained. Aelithe could see the doubts that Grissom and Sara still had: "Why don't you do your work, think about what we said and showed you. Here is my address and telephone number. Please contact me or come visit us, when you have made up your mind. It doesn't matter whether or not you decide to help us or not, just come and tell us, please." Aelithe handed a card to Grissom. "That is all we ask. I think it is time that we left." With that Piper waved her hands and the people in the hall resumed their works as if time hadn't stopped at all. Warrick and Catherine were walking towards Grissom, and from the other side Nick called out: "Grissom?! Do we have assignments?"

"I'm coming, Nick." Grissom called back. He then shook the hands that the Halliwell family presented him: "We will consider all that you have said and shown, you will hear from us."

With that the Halliwels and Aelithe left the labs, to go home. Grissom and Sara walked to the break room, were Grissom appointed Greg and Nick to the only case that had come in, leaving Sara and himself free to think about what had happened this night.

Opening his office door to let Sara pass and stepped in to his office after her and closed the door. Sara sat down on one of the chairs that stood in front of the desk, Grissom sat down on the other chair that stood in front of the desk. Sara and Grissom were still stunned, but Grissom broke the silence: "So, first blush?" Sara looked up, slightly dazed, looking into his blue eyes, Sara spoke up: "First blush? They are witches; they can do things that I don't understand. My brain tells me that a person can't stop time, but here someone did. I have no idea what I think. What do you think?"

"The same thing you just said. Scientifically speaking the things did, can't have happened, but yet they did. What do you want to do? Do you want to meet them?"

"I have no idea, but I am wondering what they want from us?" Sara wondered.

"Yes, I wondered the same thing. They thought that we had magical powers, but I can't remember ever anything happening around me, that I couldn't explain. Accept maybe, what made me fall in love with you, and why you love me." Grissom said as he grabbed Sara's hand. The confusion he could see in her eyes, mirrored the confusion he felt on what had happened this night. Before Sara could react Brass charged in.

"Hey Grissom, I just got a call. Your little buddies are calling your name." Brass handed an assignment slip to Grissom.

"Well at least it is something I can deal with." Sara smirked at Grissom's comment. "Sara, you want to join me and capture some insects?"

"Sure Grissom, insects I can handle, about witches I am not sure." Sara said as she rose from her chair. Brass glanced from Grissom to Sara, understanding what they were talking about: "You met Aelithe." Brass stated.

"Yes, according to Judy they were directed here by you."

"Yes that is correct; I said that she would have more success in reaching you here."

"She and the Halliwell family came here to talk to us." Grissom explained and walked towards the door.

"Griss, just one moment. I know it is hard to deal with in the first instance, but Aelithe is a good person, really. She helps me occasionally when I get a case that involves her world. She only tries to make the world a better place to live in. I know she is sometimes not quite sure what she is searching for, but in the end she really helps. Give them a chance." Brass said.

"Okay, we will, what do you say about this Sara: We do our jobs and we talk some more back home. That way we have some time to consider everything." Grissom asked.

"That sounds like a good idea. Now let's go see your favourite things." Sara said, anxious to get going, she had a slow week, with a lot of paperwork and some fieldwork would be a great diversion from what happened at the start of shift.

With Grissom, Sara drove to the scene to do their jobs as they did every night.

**Author note: So what do you think of the story so far? Please tell me, review please.**


	7. A strange night

A strange night

Brass walked up to Grissom and Sara after they had parked their car. "I want you two to keep your firearms with you. This scene is secure, but with these woods you never know. The body is up there." Brass pointed to a faraway point. Grissom and Sara grabbed their kits and firearms and followed the officer to the body, where they met David who had just proclaimed the body as officially dead. Not that anyone needed that official statement, but it was policy.

"This body is yours, Grissom. He is dead, but that is very obvious."

"What was the cause of dead?"

"Well it seems like a gunshot wound to the head and chest. I will take the body with me when you have finished with it, Grissom."

"Thank you, David." Grissom opened his kit and with Sara he started to collect the insects that were crawling all over the dead body. As Grissom and Sara worked side by side, neither seemed to notice that the insects were almost walking in to their jars. After some minutes Grissom was convinced he didn't need Sara anymore, so he asked her to check out the perimeter: "Sar, I can handle the rest, will you check out the perimeter?"

"Sure Griss." With that Sara grabbed her kit and walked around, sometimes waiting to check out something or pick something up. She soon found a few footprints and decided to follow them, so she yelled out to Grissom: "He, Griss, I found some footprints leading away from the man. I already made a cast, but I am going to follow them." Grissom turned to watch Sara standing at the end of what seemed to be a trial, in front of some bushes. He was about to call back that it was alright; when he saw the bushes move. "Sara! Watch out behind you." But it was too late; as Sara turned around the person who had been hiding in the bushes came out and grabbed Sara from behind. He held her to his chest, with one arm around her waist and his other hand, which held a gun pointed to her temple. Grissom saw everything happen quickly; he scrambled to get on his feet and stood facing the man. Grissom felt anger, fear and frustration well inside him; the dance that Sara and he always so effortlessly performed on a crime scene was rudely interrupted in a way that was very disturbing. Grissom feared for Sara's live which now laid squarely in the hands of someone neither of them knew, but was very likely connected to the crime they were investigating, he would have no other reason to come here. He could see the fear in Sara's eyes, but also the determination to get out of there alive, and the frustration of not being in control. Grissom looked around him, but he could not see any officers around, where was everyone?

"They are not here; they are trying to put out a fire that suddenly burst out in one of the cars." The man said, almost reading Grissom's mind.

"What do you want?" Grissom asked, remembering everything he had learned about dealing with these situations. He tried to remain calm, and even though his face didn't show his emotions, he did feel them coursing threw his veins. Grissom could feel his anger and fear pouring into every part of his body. He was frantically trying to find a solution for the situation.

"What do you want?" the man asked, with a sickening smile on his face, as if he already knew the answer, but wanted to force Grissom to answer, so Grissom would hear it. Grissom was trying to figure out what he had to do. If he answered him then he would give away the power of the situation to the man, but not answering could anger him and cause him to do something rash.

"I want you to let her go." Grissom said calmly, not showing his emotions.

"Not happening." The man taunted.

"Who are you?"

"Your worst nightmare." The man replied, adjusting his hold on Sara, so he could hold her better. Grissom felt utterly powerless and wished he would have a means to reach the man, before Sara was going to get hurt. Still wondering who the man was, Grissom took the surroundings in, to see if there was anything that could help him. But Grissom saw nothing that could help him, Grissom was feeling cornered, forced to watch the inevitable. He had to do something, racking his brains Grissom found himself remembering the insects that they had found. The insects that would tell him at what time the victim had died, the insects that he knew so well. Their behaviour was predictable, less complex then human behaviour. But those insects couldn't help him now, but Grissom was wishing for some venomous insects or insects that would cause immediate pain, so that they could distract the man from Sara, giving Sara a chance to get away. And clear as sunlight Grissom suddenly saw several insects crawling up the leg of the man.

"You know you can't do anything. Now you will watch your loved one die. It only takes one of you to break the power, so I can be free." The man started to speak again and Grissom turned his attention back to the man. He could see the murderous glare in his eyes; Grissom forced himself to look at the man and talk. Talking would buy Sara time, and those insects.

"What power are you talking about?" Grissom asked. The man stopped and looked at Grissom, unbelieving.

"You don't know what power you two hold?" he asked incredulously.

"I have no idea what you mean." Normally Grissom didn't like to admit ignorance, but in this case he was more than willing. It could save Sara's life; he could see that Sara was also listening intently.

"You really don't know. Wow, that is even … Hey, what is this? No, get off, get off." The man was slapping his legs and dancing around. Sara quickly placed her elbow in his stomach and sprinted off, when the man released her. She then grabbed her weapon and saw that Grissom had done the same thing. Both had their weapons aimed at the man, who was now furiously rubbing his legs.

"He, stop that, stand still." Grissom called at the man. But the man refused to do as he was told, he looked up and realised what was happening. He turned around and started to run off. Sara by then really furious at the man that had held captive, shouted at him: "He, the man asked you to stop and stand still." The man stood stock still at the moment the words had left Sara's mouth. "That is better, now turn around." Sara didn't stop to think how and why the man reacted so strangely, without a shot fired. At that time the frozen man turned, but not on his feet. Grissom and Sara remained still as the saw that the man was slightly lifted in the air and then midair turned to face Sara and Grissom.

"What are you doing to me?" The man asked, looking scared. "You do know you hold great power, no let me go." He demanded. Sara looked sideways to find Grissom staring at her too. Neither knew what was going on, but this man was defying the laws of physics. "And were did those insects come from?" You do know you hold great power." The man shouted again. At the mention of the insects, Grissom looked at the ground, where earlier the man had stood. There were still some insects scurrying around, Grissom recognized several. Sara saw Grissom looking around, but she didn't dare take her eyes of the man floating in the air. But then the sudden rustling of leaves behind her, caused both her and Grissom to look around and point their guns temporarily at another target.

"Who is there?" Grissom ordered, as Sara turned around to the other man.

"It is me, Brass. Are you alright?" Brass emerged from the bushes. Grissom sighed and lowered his gun.

"Barely, where were the officers? Sara was attacked, she was almost killed." Grissom ranted.

"What?! The officers were putting out a fire. What happened here?" Brass demanded.

"That man was hiding in the bushes and grabbed Sara and threatened to kill her." Grissom threw his hand at the general direction of where the man was lifted in air. Brass followed the direction and then turned to Grissom: "What man?"

Grissom turned around and saw that the man was gone. Sara to saw what had happened: "Where did he go?" She said. Grissom looked around and walked to the direction where they had last seen the man.

"He is gone. Damn." Grissom swore, which he never did. It showed how disturbing he had found this small episode. Brass watched Grissom and saw that he was troubled.

"I am going to get some officers to search these woods. He couldn't have gotten far." Brass turned to walk away, but a shout from Sara stopped him mid-step.

"Don't bother, his footprints end here. He disappeared, much like Paige did I reckon."

"Great…" Just as Brass was about to say something a cloud of bleu lights appeared out of nowhere and from it came Aelithe and Paige.

"What happened here?" Aelithe asked, turning to Brass, as she saw which persons were present. "I got a signal of a magical presence here."

"That would have been the man, who has just escaped." Grissom surly said. He wasn't handling this well. He had been here to do his job and these people were making that job a lot harder. He had just seen Sara at gunpoint about to have her head blown off and these people were popping up again.

"What man?" Paige asked, looking around.

"Well he just escaped, but he had hid here, while Sara and I were processing this scene, doing our job." Grissom was not amused and this wasn't helping. He was looking around for Sara and saw her sitting on a tree trunk. She was also just barely hanging on; he could see that all she wanted was some peace and quiet. "Listen, we still have our job to do. Could you all leave us to that?" Grissom asked, with his eyes trying to ask Brass for some help.

"Are you sure that the magic was coming from that man?" Aelithe was oblivious to the silent plea that Grissom was sending.

"Yes. Now please leave. Brass can escort you of the scene." Grissom said as he held his arms out to escort the women away.

"But." Paige wanted to protest, but Brass had understood Grissom's plea and escorted her and Aelithe. "No, let's go Paige. I am sure Grissom will call you after this scene has been cleared and he has some time."

* * *

Grissom waited for the three people to disappear and then walked to Sara. "Are you alright, honey?"

"I am not sure. I am just a bit on an adrenaline high, a bit scared and very confused." Sara admitted, looking into Grissom's blue eyes. He wrapped his arm around Sara's shoulders and sat down next to her, making sure to have his gun free to reach.

"God, I was so scared, Sara."

"Me too. What was that about insects?" Sara asked.

"I saw some insects scurrying into his pants, just before he started swatting his legs."

"Where did they come from?"

"I have no idea, but they have vanished. I did see some of them and it were insects that don't live in these woods. Some of them only live in the rainforests."

"Then how did they come here?"

"I have no idea, but I am sure glad they came, because I don't know how I would have been able to get you away from that man. What happened to that man, when you told him to stop?" Grissom wondered aloud.

"I have no idea. Do you remember what he kept repeating? About us having a power?" Sara said.

"Yes. Sara I think we need to talk to the Halliwel family and Aelithe. I honestly don't know what else to do." Grissom sighed.

"I know. I feel the same. We need some help in this." Sara said. Grissom looked around him and started to talk: "We will finish this scene, get back to the lab and go home get some sleep, before we will go to the Halliwel family and Aelithe. Is that okay with you?"

"Yes, we were almost done here."

"Yes we were. You are going to stay with me, though, for the remainder of the time we are here. No arguments, I can't have a repeat of this episode, my heart won't take it." Grissom said as he squeezed Sara to his side and kissed her cheek. "I was really scared of losing you, that isn't getting easier. I hate seeing you in danger." Sara just leaned into Grissom's embrace.

* * *

Several hours later Grissom walked into the break room, trying to find Sara. "Do you know where Sara is, Greg, Nick?" Grissom asked the two men sitting in the break room.

"No, last I saw her she was walking to the locker room." Greg replied, not looking up from the magazine he was reading. Just then Grissom's cell-phone chirped, indicating he had a new message, quickly checking it, Grissom felt relieved when he saw it was Sara who was telling him she was waiting in their car. "I know where she is, we are going home. You should do the same thing."

"Nah, we have to wait for some results from Hodges, after that we are getting home." Nick said as he lifted his hand in a farewell salute.

Sara heard the knock on the window and opened her eyes. She saw Grissom standing on the other side of the window, signalling that she should open the door.

"Sorry, but I didn't want to be disturbed."

"Why are you here? I did ask you to stay with me."

"I know, but I needed to find a quiet place and the lab was anything but that. I am sorry that I made you worry about me." Sara apologized again.

"It is okay. I can understand. I think it is time to return home. What do you think?"

"I think so to. I need some food and a nice warm bed to sleep." Sara nodded. Grissom sat behind the wheel, but before he started the car he heaved a sigh and let his head rest against the headrest. He closed his eyes for a moment.

"Are you alright?" Sara asked.

"Yes, just tired. It has been a strange night."

"You could say that again. A very odd shift. Come on Gilbert, let's go home." Grissom smiled at the use of his given name. Only Sara ever used his complete given name and only when they were alone.

"Okay." Grissom turned his keys and started the car. They returned home and ate, as they always did, as if their lives weren't turned completely upside down. Then they spent the morning together and retired to bed on the hours they normally did. The next night would come soon enough, reality would hit them again as it always did. These hours together, without victims, suspects and murders, were there to remind them that live didn't only exist of bad things. The simple things they enjoyed together balanced them and strengthened them to be able to deal with Las Vegas at night. And that Las Vegas had gotten a new dimension for Sara and Gilbert that night.


	8. Trading information

Trading information

"You are back soon." Phoebe said as Paige and Aelithe reappeared in the room. Just a few minutes ago Aelithe had had a signal, which indicated someone was using magic. Normal use of magic didn't register with Aelithe, this signal, however, had been unusually strong. So she and Paige had left to see if there was some need for help. They had left without telling the others much. Leo had also felt something, but since it was none of his charges that were in need, he had stayed behind. But now Aelithe and Paige had returned, almost at record speed and Phoebe was naturally inclined to be curious. Paige glanced at Phoebe: "We found Brass, Dr. Grissom and Miss Sidle, no one else. But apparently we had just missed a man. Dr. Grissom has ordered us to leave; I think he was worried about Miss Sidle."

"Yes he was worried about her, but why? What happened before we got there? And who sent out the signal?" Aelithe was sure that there was more to what had happened then just what they had seen.

"I have no idea. I hope that they will call us." Paige said as she sat down on the couch, next to Phoebe who had the Book of Shadows on her lap. Phoebe looked up to Aelithe: "You are not sure who sent out the signal?"

"No, according to Dr. Grissom it must have been the man that had disappeared, but I also felt waves of magic coming from Dr. Grissom and Miss Sidle."

"So we are almost sure that they have magical powers?"

"Yes. I am sure they have magical powers." Aelithe stated, feeling that she was justified in saying that. Her powers of observation of Magic as a Guider had never failed her before, and she hoped they weren't about to start to. "What does the Book of Shadows show?"

"Well let's see." Phoebe opened the Book of Shadows and quickly found the page Aelithe had referred to. The blurry page was now a bit clearer. "Well the figure standing behind Dr. Grissom is Miss Sidle. Here look." Phoebe turned the Book so everybody could see. Phoebe was right; the figure was Sara, she stood to the right of Grissom, just slightly behind him, with her arms crossed in front of her chest. She whore a beautifully cut black, pinstripe suit, underneath the blazer she whore a red top which was cut into a point to her left side, leaving a small piece of cloth peeping under her blazer. The colour red seemed to connect her and Grissom.

"They look wonderful together." Piper commented.

"Look some writing has become readable. _Love is the strongest emotion_." Paige read.

"Well, apparently they have something to do with love. But the rest of the page is still blurry." Phoebe said, closely examining the page. "I hope we will hear from them soon."

"I think we will. But they need some time to figure things out, to come to their own decision to come for help. Otherwise it will be much more difficult to help them, we can't force them." Aelithe said as she accepted a cup of coffee that Piper gave her. That indicated that now they had to wait, so Paige grabbed her sketchbook and started to draw, Leo and Piper orbed out, saying they were going to check up on his and Pipers sons in the Magic School and Phoebe sat behind the computer to search the internet.

* * *

While Grissom parked his car he was interrupted by the ringing of his cell phone. Sara reached over and pressed the talk button. "Hey Brass." Grissom called out, after quickly having checked caller ID.

"Hey, Gil, how are you?"

"I am fine, thank you. I have just reached home and I am going to get something to eat and sleep. What is it?"

"How is Sara?"

"I am also fine, Jim." Sara reacted, because of Grissom's hand-free kit in his car. She could hear everything Brass said.

"Oh, hey Sara, sorry, didn't know you were listening with."

"Brass, why don't you tell us, what it is that is on your mind." Grissom knew that Brass was stalling.

"You need to talk to Aelithe, about what happened in the woods."

"We know, we had decided that already."

"Good. Have a nice dinner. I'll talk to you later." Grissom pushed the off button and took the cell-phone out of its cradle. Sara opened her door and went around back to grab their stuff out of the trunk, while Grissom opened the front door and waited for her to get inside the house.

After dinning Grissom unearthed the business card, he had gotten from Aelithe, from his bag. He turned to Sara: "Ready to do this?" Grissom asked looking into Sara's eyes he saw the uncertainty.

"Yes, I guess. I mean I'm not sure, but it is what we have to do. They can help us, so let's do this. At least we'll be together."

"Yes, we are." Grissom dialled the number on the card. He lowered his head, waiting for the other pone to be picked up. As that happened he raised his head and locked his eyes with Sara's. "Goodday, Miss Salome. I think we are ready to talk to you…Okay…Sure, no problem…We will see you then." Grissom shut the phone and said to Sara: "We are going to see them in eight hours, so we can get some sleep."

"Okay. Come on, let's get some rest." Sara turned and walked to their bedroom, but Grissom grabbed he arm and stopped her: "Sara, you are right: I am also unsure, I have never had to deal with something like this before, but we are in this together. No matter what happens, I love you."

"I love you too."

* * *

Aelithe replaced the receiver in its cradle and returned to the sitting room. "That was Dr. Grissom. He wants to talk to us. He and Sara are going to come in about eight hours. That leaves them some time to get some rest."

"Okay. Maybe we should also get some rest." Paige said as she closed her sketchbook.

"Where are Leo and Piper?"

"They are still in the Magic School."

"Okay. I am going to the shops, I need some things? Can I take something for you with me?" Aelithe asked as she grabbed her purse.

"Can I come? I would like to get out." Phoebe asked, as she shut down the computer.

"Sure, are you going to be al right here alone, Paige?"

"Yeah, no worries."

"Oh, one thing: if people come in, could you just ask them to stay, I am not going to be long. If they have questions explain them about the city, but make sure they stay here. I think that no one would come here, but just in case." Aelithe said as she walked to the hallway and grabbed her coat.

"Okay, see you soon." Paige was getting a bit distracted by what she was drawing, but had heard everything Aelithe had said.

* * *

Eight hours later the doorbell in Aelithe's house rang. "That will be them." Paige said, Aelithe got up and went to open the door. "Good evening Dr. Grissom, Miss Sidle."

"Good evening Aelithe. I hope you don't mind me using your first name?" Grissom had always been courteous. "It is just that it is the way that you were initially introduced to me."

"No it is all right. I am very glad that you are willing to talk to us."

"Please call me Grissom, I already gave you permission to use that name."

"And my name is Sara." Sara said as she shook Aelithe's hand and stepped inside the house.

"Okay. The Halliwell family is inside the sitting room. Would you like to drink something?"

"Yes, coffee please and for Sara too, right?" Grissom asked, while glancing at Sara, who nodded.

"Okay, here is the sitting room, I'll be with you in a minute, please make yourselves comfortable." Aelithe said as she indicated her sitting room. Grissom and Sara walked in and saw Piper, Phoebe, Paige and Leo sitting in the sitting room. Grissom and Sara greeted them and the other returned the greeting. Grissom and Sara both also gave the Halliwell family permission to use their given names. When Aelithe returned with the coffee, everybody got comfortable, sensing that this could take some time. It was a good thing that it was Saturday, so both Sara and Grissom didn't need to work. After some time the silence that had fallen over the group got uncomfortable, Grissom decided to move the conversation along: "So, where do you want to begin?"

"What made you chance your mind, about us?" Phoebe asked.

"It is what you showed us, back in the lab." Grissom responded.

"How did we manage that?" Paige wondered.

"Well, we are scientists, we like to see things. You showed us things that we don't understand, but you did them in our lab. A place that we know very well, there were no trapdoors or mirrors. A place you have never been in before." Grissom explained. Aelithe felt that there was more to it and decided to ask: "Was that the only thing? Or was what happened in the forest also important?"

"What happened in the forest definitely pushed us over the edge. But I like to leave that for later. Why don't we start were we left off back in the lab, with the Debbie Marlin case?"

"That is fine with me, but Dr. Grissom, please be honest with us. That is the only way in which we can help each other."

"It's Grissom, and I will be honest with you. What did you need to know about the Debbie Marlin case?"

"Why did that case obsess you, Grissom?" Aelithe asked, putting a slight emphasis on Grissom's name.

"Because the victim was Sara's doppelganger. It made me realise that I could lose Sara." That comment left the other women in the room slightly speechless. "You don't believe me? Here, take a look." Grissom produced a picture of Debbie Marlin from his pocket; he had anticipated this and took the photo from the file, just in case. He passed the picture to Aelithe, who along with Piper looked at the picture and had to admit, that this woman looked rather much like Sara. "I needed to get the man who had killed her, to find out why."

"Did you find out who did it and why?" Phoebe asked returning the picture to Grissom.

"We found who murdered her, but we couldn't get a conviction or even go to trial, because the evidence was circumstantial at best."

"Did you find out why he killed her?"

"I am not completely sure, but most probably because of jealousy. Miss Marlin had a relationship with her murderer, but broke it off for someone younger."

"Why was it so important that this woman looked like Sara? Why was the prospect of losing Sara something that you dreaded?"

"Because I love her." Grissom honestly replied. Phoebe, Paige, Piper and Aelithe shared some looks, a bit unsure of how to proceed. Phoebe took the leap and asked: "You and Sara are together?"

"Yes." Sara answered.

"Were you together when this happened?"

"No, not yet." Grissom said.

"Who was the murderer?" Phoebe felt that it was getting a bit too personal to Grissom's and Sara's liking. She knew they would eventually have to return to this subject of their love, but for now she could ask something that wasn't so personal.

"It was a doctor Lurie. And I would appreciate it if this name those not leave this room. Technically I am not allowed to give the name." Grissom still felt he needed to press the point.

"We know, that name won't leave this room." Aelithe assured Grissom. "but he did get away with it?"

"Yes." A few moments silence fell, giving the people in the room time to digest the information that they had gotten. Phoebe then resumed the conversation: "So this case was a highly emotional case for you, Grissom. How about you Sara?"

"Not really, although I did hear Grissom admit to the suspect that he couldn't take a chance for love for a new chance."

"Did you love him, during that time?" Phoebe gently asked, realising how painful it could be to hear that from someone you loved.

"Yes." Sara said: "Can I ask you a question now?"

"Sure, go ahead." Aelithe encouraged Sara.

"Why are you so interested in this case?"

"Well, as I told you I had a premonition of you two while you were on the Debbie Marlin case."

"But we were rarely together that case, just in the beginning."

"I saw Grissom coming out of the house and focussing on you." Piper replied.

"I thought that Phoebe had the power of premonition. How come you saw it?"

"Well, the premonition was very hazy, like a mist was hanging over it, so I couldn't be completely sure of what happened. But the Las Vegas sign was very clear, so we came here and Aelithe helped us from that point on. She had a spell that allowed them to look into my mind and see what I had missed. That is how Piper knew this."

"Okay. So why is the Debbie Marlin case important, why did you see us in the Debbie Marlin case, when there are so many other cases in which Griss and I worked together?"

"I have no idea; my best guess would be, because it was a highly emotional case."

"It was one of the many emotional cases we have had." Sara said. At that a small sigh could be heard from the other women in the room. "So that couldn't be it." Aelithe said: "Was there anything else that was special in this case?"

"Other than that I decided on that case that quadruple shifts were to be of the past, not something I could think off, now, anyways." Grissom told the rest and also Sara was shaking her head in a negative manner. Grissom suddenly questioningly looked at Piper: "How did you know that Sara and I met in San Fransisco?"

"I had one short premonition, that showed you two meeting there, in a lecture hall." Phoebe said. "Out of curiousity, how many years ago was that?"

"That would be about ten years." Grissom said, remembering that meeting, how beautiful Sara had looked and how she had asked so many questions, which were also insightful. He smiled at the memory. Sara saw that and asked him why he smiled, Grissom fondly looked at Sara and said: "I just remembered that meeting, you looked amazing and that ponytail was endearing. And the questions you asked! I felt like I had met my match. It is one of my favourite memories." Something in the way that Grissom was talking about that first meeting made Phoebe wonder about the love these people felt for each other and how long that love had been there.

"Since when did you know you loved each other?" Phoebe asked.

"For me it has been since that meeting." Grissom admitted.

"For me it is the same." Sara added.

Piper looked at Phoebe, feeling she was on to something. Piper could see that Phoebe felt the same way, she was completely focussed on Grissom and Sara when she asked her next question: "Does 1 Corinthian: 13 mean anything to you?"

"Ehm… Isn't that the verse on love in the letters of Paul, in the bible?" Sara said, looking at Grissom for conformation, which he promptly gave in the only way Grissom could: "Yes, _Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres._" That left the other people, except Sara, temporarily speechless.

"You know that from the heart?" Paige asked in awe.

"Eh. Yes."

"Wow." Paige said. "That is impressive."

"Thank you, but how is this going to help us any further?" Grissom was anxious to get back to the relevancy of said quote.

"Well in the Book of Shadows we recently found a page that refers to you. And on it was that quote." Piper explained.

"Wait, wait, what is the Book of Shadows?" Sara asked, a little confused by the name of the book.

"The Book of Shadows is a book that helps us in dealing with the magical world, it is like a manual or guide into the magical world. That is how we knew we were on the right track with you, Grissom. You see the page was blurry, as if someone had spilled water on it, but after we had talked to you Grissom, the picture depicting you became clear and after talking to Sara, her picture became clear. Here I will show you." Piper got up to get the Book, opened it and laid it down on the table, so that Grissom and Sara could take a look. They bent over to examine the page. Sara was the first to talk: "That is a nice picture of us, Grissom."

"I have to agree. But there is still a lot of writing unclear. Except this sentence here: _love is the strongest emotion_. What does that mean?"

"We have no idea. Could we perhaps discuss what happened in the forest?" Aelithe felt as if they had exhausted the other leads and wanted to know what had happened in the forest.

"Sure." Sara said and told the other people what had happened in the forest, she included everything and concluded with: "When you left, we decided we needed your help. According to this man we held a great power, but we don't know anything about it. You believe that we have magical powers, why?"

"Because I can feel them." Aelithe said in explanation. "You see, I am not only a witch I am also a Guider. That means that I am something like a mentor to people who either just found out that they have magical powers or people who by accident got magical powers from someone else. I introduce them to the magical world and guide them around, give them advice and help them to control their powers or teach them how to use them. One of the powers that I have in that capacity is that I can sense magical powers in other people. I felt them the first time I met each of you, but in the forest those came of you two in waves. That is why I asked whether you were sure that the magic must have come from the other man. You honestly don't know that you have magical powers."

"No, we honestly didn't know we had magical powers. But what powers do we have, if we have them?" Grissom asked, not completely confident, that what Aelithe was saying was correct.

"I have no idea." Aelithe admitted. "It is like we said earlier: we are not sure about what we are looking for or what is happening. That is why we wanted to talk to you."

"It didn't really help then? You still have a lot of questions, as have we. What else can we do?" Sara asked. She was met with a silence, everybody wondering the same things. Piper was the first to break the silence: "I think it is time to go and talk to the Elders. Leo could you?" she looked at her husband, who gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

"Sure, I'll be back as quick as possible." With that Leo orbed out. Grissom and Sara still not really used to it, watched as he disappeared. Sara was the first who had overcome her speechless state: "Who are the Elders? Are you together? And is he a wizard?"

"Yes, we are married. No he isn't a wizard, he is a white lighter and as for the Elders, well since we have some time we can tell you about them." Piper answered with a smile on her lips. Piper told Grissom and Sara about the Elders and some other things about the magical world, with the help of Phoebe, Paige and Aelithe.

* * *

After an hour Leo finally returned. Piper gathered everyone in the sitting room, Aelithe had returned to her bedroom to take care of some other business and Phoebe was sitting with Sara and Grissom in the sitting room, while Piper and Paige had prepared some sandwiches, which were now carried into the room. When everyone was present once again and had a sandwich, they turned their attention to Leo.

"Well, with our additional information the Elders could tell me a bit more. It appears that you, Grissom and Sara, indeed hold a great Power. You hold the Power the Elders had lost track off." Before Leo could continue, Paige broke in: "What Power would that be?"

"The Power of Love."


	9. The Power They had lost track of

The Power They had lost track off.

"The Power of Love!" Paige exclaimed. Sara and Grissom could only look at Leo, perplexed, definitely out of their comfort zone and at a loss for words. Piper and Phoebe just looked at Leo, patiently awaiting the rest of his story, as he always shared with them.

"Yes, the Power of Love, Paige." Leo simply stated, he walked over to Piper and sat down, for the Halliwell sisters this was an indication that this explanation might take a long time. Piper could see that Leo was wondering were he should begin, so Piper asked him: "What do you mean with 'The Power They had lost track off'? Do the Elders keep taps on all Power that is here on earth?" Leo looked at Piper, appreciative of her question.

"Yes, they keep taps on all Power that roams the Earth."

"This is new to us, Leo." Paige stated.

"Well, I wasn't sure, but I thought that they might." Aelithe interjected.

"Anyway, they do keep taps on the Powers that are at work on Earth. They also keep taps on the Power of Three." Leo said, not so pleased with the interruption, what he had learned was going to be difficult to explain, and interruptions were almost certainly going to add confusion. So he decided to make that clear: "Listen, it is very difficult, so why don't you listen to me and we will tackle questions later?"

"Go ahead, Leo, we will listen." Piper encouraged him.

"So, the Elders have been keeping taps on all Powers, however the Power of Love was a Power that proved difficult to keep taps on. So about fifty years ago they lost track of the Power of Love. They tried everything to find out who was holding the Power of Love. You see most Powers move through families. Like the Power of Three, that was always a Power the Halliwell family would hold, it made it easier to keep track of the Powers. Other Powers get passed down on predetermined persons, it is their destiny. However some Powers don't pass down along predictable paths, some get passed down, because someone kills the former holder of that Power and some Powers settle on people that are suited for them. The Power of Love is passed down by chance, the Power settles on the magical couple most likely to handle it, the way it should be handled. The people who are most likely to carry out and uphold it's great legacy; the legacy of Love in all its purity. So about fifty years ago the guardians of the Power of Love died and the Power of Love disappeared from the radar of the Elders and it hasn't resurfaced, until ten years ago. However something was off, they couldn't get a good read as to who held the Power. It was located both in San Fransisco and Las Vegas. For a while it was believed that Piper and I would hold the Power, but that proved not to be true. The Elders told me that after two years the Power of Love seemed to have located itself in Las Vegas and at that time they tried to find it in Las Vegas, but it had all been in vain, until now. According to the Elders the Power of Love seemed to grow steadily at certain times peaking, but never enough to pinpoint an exact location. That is until last evening, when somehow the Power of Love was radiant in the forest, the forest were Aelithe and Paige went to and were Grissom and Sara were." At this he looked at Grissom and Sara, who were obviously having a difficult time to digest everything Leo had told them. Sara was the first to voice her question: "Why now?"

"I asked the Elders that also, but they don't know. They do have a theory on why it was so difficult to find you. They believe that is in part because you never knew that you have magical powers and secondly because Love isn't always clear cut. But if you ask me it is just because you didn't know you were magical and had never used those powers. But that is all just guessing. The Elders did however give me some warnings, heads ups. The Elders are not the only ones who keep taps on the Powers that are here on Earth. The higher demons also keep track of Powers. It is very likely that the demons also have figured out who are the new guardians of the Power of Love."

"So what does that mean?"

"That means that the demons are going to haunt you, try to get the Power away from you. Demons only value Power, to them it doesn't matter that it is the Power of Love or the Power of Sanity. The only thing they find important is that you hold power and they want that power. When we got the Power of Three, demons started to attack right away, leaving us no time to figure out what was happening to us." Piper explained. Leo picked up were Piper had stopped: "According to the Elders some demons might have already tried to kill you. The demon world have been trying to find the Power of Love just as much as the Elders. The Elders reckon that the peaks they had received might have been moments in which you were in danger. Possibly danger at the hands of demons."

"So we might have already had contact with demons?"

"Very likely so, yes." Leo admitted. "Have you ever been in danger?" Sara and Grissom looked at each other. Yes, they had been in danger, more times then they dared count. Could all those instances have been at the hands of demons? Grissom started to talk: "Yes, we have been in danger, but it has always been during cases. So I don't think those could have been demons in your sense of the word."

"Grissom, the demons we fight don't have horns growing out of their heads. At least not all of them. Most demons have normal appearances, like us, if we hadn't told you we were witches, would you have guessed? It is like the people you catch, you cannot determine by looks, whether someone is a murderer or kidnapper. Those people who were a thread to your safety during the cases, might very well have been demons, you just didn't know or recognised them." Aelithe explained

"Okay." Grissom replied. Sara in the meantime had thought about something else that Leo had said. "Leo, you said that the Power of Love settled on a magical couple. Does that mean that we have other magical powers then the Power of Love?"

"Yes. Maybe I should explain that. You see, the powers that you have are not the Power of Love. It is like the Power of Three with Piper, Phoebe and Paige. The Power of Three enhances their magical powers, but without it, they still have their own powers. The Power of Three enables them to eliminate higher demons, demons that cannot be eliminated by the mere power that Piper holds, for example. With the Power of Three they can use spells that have a greater impact. It is the same with you two, you have your own individual magical powers and the Power of Love can magnify them at certain times. The Power of Love can enable you to use spells that you cannot operate on your own powers. But with the Power of Love also other responsibilities come." Leo told Grissom and Sara

"What other responsibilities?"

"The Elders were reluctant to tell me. They said that someone will be in contact with you about that. Right now they asked us to focus on helping you understand and operate your powers and focus on trying to find out what demons might have had contact with you." Leo said. Grissom almost threw his arms up in frustration, he didn't, but the frustration was evident in his voice as he said: "Like we already told you before, we don't have magical powers."

"Oh yes, you have, it is just that up until now, or rather until yesterday, you didn't need them, so they didn't manifest themselves so clearly." Phoebe answered his frustration.

"What do you mean 'until yesterday'?" Grissom asked, genuinely interested.

"Well, think back to what happened yesterday, with that man. You, Grissom, said that there were bugs…" "Insects." "Insects present, that should not have been there. And the man was stopped, lifted and turned around in the air. I hardly think that he did that out of his own free will." Phoebe explained, with the patience of an angel, not bothered by Grissom's interruption to correct her on the use of the word 'bugs'.

"You think that we, what? Conjured up these insects and made the man stop?" Sara asked, unbelieving her own words. But that disbelief was not mirrored in the faces of Piper, Phoebe, Paige and Aelithe, who just nodded. "Right, sure." Sara sarcastically said, as she turned to face Grissom. Aelithe drew her attention back to the others as she began to speak: "Do you have another explanation?" Sara stared at her, thinking, but she had to admit that she didn't have another explanation. "But things like that have never happened before."

"Maybe, at other times you didn't need that extra, magical help. Grissom when you saw that Sara was in danger, what did you feel?" Aelithe switched her attention from Sara to Grissom.

"I felt helpless, I couldn't do anything to get her away. I remembered the insects and wished for insects that could cause immediate pain. And then those insects came out of the ground."

"Yes, I think you conjured up those insects. You said you could see them, but they must have been small and quite far away. How did you see them?"

"I don't know, I could just see them, it never occurred to me, that they were far away. Well, no, actually those insects came out of the ground near my feet and then scurried to the man." Grissom said as he was thinking back to the yesterday night.

"And what about you, Sara?"

"What about me?"

"Well, it's just a guess, but I think that you made that man stop, turn and lifted him in the air. What did you feel?"

"I was furious with the guy. He didn't stop when Grissom ordered him to do so. Then I called after him, and that is when he stopped and turned." Sara recounted

"You see, the first time the most witches find out about their powers is either, because they have forever lived in the magical world or, and this is your case, when they felt very emotional and felt like they were in a corner, with nowhere to go. So that would explain why your powers only now presented themselves to you." Aelithe explained. She could see that Grissom and Sara were trying to understand everything that had been said, but they were struggling with it. So Aelithe decided that this would be a good moment to give them some time to mule over what they had been told. "Why don't we leave you for a moment, we'll get something to eat and we can talk after that a little more." Aelithe said, as she stood from her chair and mentioned for the Halliwell family to follow her.

"Thank you." Grissom and Sara stood, while the others left the room.

"Well, this is crazy." Sara said as she resumed her seat on the couch. Grissom sat down next to her: "Yeah." Grissom looked at Sara and saw a smile grow on her face. "What are you smiling about?" Sara looked at Grissom and said: "Oh, I just remembered a case that Warrick and I had once. Remember the case with the old lady that we thought had self combusted?"

Grissom frowned, trying to remember the case, then suddenly his eyes lighted: "Yes, you and him tried to disprove self combustion. Another pig I believe."

"Yes, that is the case. You asked us whether or not we had considered that there might be a scientific explanation. The fact is that I didn't thought there might be one. It was because of these women." Sara indicated to the door through which the others had vanished. "I told you that I found evidence of small explosions."

"Yes."

"Well, in one of the cases the evidence pointed to an explosion the size of a human being, but no accelerants or other substances that could explain the explosion. So someone in my team said that it might be the first ever case of self combustion. I was about to do some experiments to prove or disprove the theory, when a call from Las Vegas came, I had to up and leave, so I couldn't experiments. That is why I was wondering about self combustion. And now we learn this." Sara laughed. Grissom grinned at her: "He, who won that chess game?"

"Do you honestly think that the move you made on Warrick's part, was going to save him from losing to me? I won."

"I didn't think so, I could see that you were going to win, no matter what. So what do you make of all this?" Grissom switched to the matter at hand.

"I don't know. I feel like we have not much choice in the matter. This is happening to us and we have got to deal with it. I don't know how I have to deal with this."

"Me neither. All I have ever known is how to my job as a investigator. This is way outside of my comfort zone." Grissom sighed, leaning back into the couch. Sara also heaved a sigh, but sat a bit more forward, her forearms resting on her knees. As she sat her eyes fell on the Book of Shadows that was still opened on their page. "Hey, look, the page has cleared a bit more. The title has cleared. It says 'The Power of Love', apparently they are right." Grissom also looked at the page and nodded.

"It's a really old book. What would the rest of the text say?" Sara wondered.

"I have no idea, maybe more clues or other quotes about love." Grissom said as he once again leaned back. Sara was still looking at the page, she looked at the picture that was there of her and Grissom. She really liked the picture, it showed their connection and yet managed to reveal the fact that they were still two individuals. With her fingers she traced the outline of the pictures and then traced the words that were clear, letting those words roll around in her head. At last she traced the smudges that were on the remainder of the page, wondering what messages those smudges would reveal. As if the Book read her minds some smudges were transforming in front of her eyes. "Grissom, look!" The edges of the smudges were reclining, as if the ink was called back to their former borders within the lines that were once written down. Sara read as one word after another revealed itself: "_In the city of free Love, they will meet. In the city were Love is a rush and a drive through, they will fight for Love. Love will reveal itself with the personification of the Chaos Theory. For when one butterfly flaps its wings, the rest of the world will know. For where Love starts no one knows, but the entire world will feel its effects._" At the calling of the last words one small blue butterfly appeared at the right corner of the page. "Well that would be us." Grissom said as he and Sara looked down at the page once more. Only one large smudge at the bottom of the page remained.

"I wonder what that says." Grissom said, looking down, hoping it would reveal its secrets, but nothing happened. "Well, it appears that you have the magic touch." Grissom smirked as he smiled to Sara, who retorted: "Oh, very funny. Do you think we could still do our jobs, now we know this?"

"I don't know, lets ask the others, when they return." Grissom sat a bit back, Sara how ever was completely enthralled by the book that lay before her and reached out to turn a page, just then Phoebe came back in. "Would you mind if I turned some pages, Phoebe?"

"No, not at all. I'll come and sit with you and explain when you come to something you don't understand."

"Thanks. So what is in this book?"

"It is our manual to the magical world. It says what demons there are and how we can vanquish them, it has spells, descriptions on different magical creatures, like leprechauns. A lot actually and we keep adding things, so that our children know what to do."

"You have children?"

"No, not yet, but Piper and Leo have two boys."

"Where are they now?"

"In the magic school."

"Do they have magical powers?"

"Yes, it would strange if they didn't. Their mother a witch, quite powerful, and their father is a White Lighter."

"What is a White Lighter?"

"A guide into the magical world and a connection to the Elders. He is an angel, to be completely honest."

"Oh. So only magical people get magical children?"

"I don't actually."

"I don't think my parents were magical."

"Only my mother was magical."

"Oh, right." Sara turned her attention back to the Book of Shadows and started to turn the page that held the information on Grissom and her and was met with a shock. Tapping Grissom's knee, Sara got his attention: "Gil, isn't that doctor Lurie?" She pointed at the drawing on the next page, which looked just like the elderly doctor she once had seen through the glass of the interrogation room. Grissom leaned forward and focussed on the drawing, shock and anger filled his eyes.

"Yes, that is doctor Lurie."


	10. Tracking Dr Lurie

**Author note: Sorry it took some time, there were several speedskating championships, that I just needed to see. Anyway, the doctor Vincent Lurie character is from CSI, season 4 episode 12: Butterflied. He killed his ex girlfriend and her boyfriend because she had dumped him for her new boyfriend. It was a very emotional episode for Grissom, since Debbie Marlin looked a lot like Sara. The Lothar character is a figment of my imagination, but loosely based on a demon that owned a bar in the tv show Angel, I believe. I hope you like the chapter.**

Tracking Dr. Lurie

Phoebe looked up, shocked and exclaimed: "That is Doctor Lurie?"

"Yes, I will never forget his face, that is dr. Lurie. What is he doing in the Book of Shadows? Does this mean he is a demon?" Grissom inquired, looking at Phoebe. Sara in the meantime was reading what the writing on the page said: "Yes, he is a demon, here: 'The Lure Demon, one of the most powerful Tracker Demons. The Lure Demon only tracks the most powerful Powers. He was responsible for the tracking of the Power of the Moon and the Power of the Sun. It is said that he is destined to be the one to track the illusive Power of Love, after it gets lost for fifty years.' He is the one who would find us? Well he didn't."

"Maybe he did, he was after all the one who made me realize that I could lose you. Only we were not aware of the things that we know now." Grissom said. Phoebe had gotten up and called for Aelithe, Piper, Paige and Leo.

"What is going on?" Piper asked, looking around in the room, finding Grissom and Sara bowed over the Book of Shadows and Phoebe standing besides them. Phoebe was the one to answer: "We found dr. Lurie. In the Book."

"In the Book, is he magical?"

"Yes, he is a Tracker Demon." Phoebe explained, Aelithe took over: "A Tracker Demon, a Demon that can track Powers?"

"Yes, apparently he is a big shot, because he only tracks the most powerful of Powers. Leo?" Phoebe looked questioningly at Leo, asking for a further explanation, which Leo gave: "Tracker Demons try to find Powers before the people carrying them even know of their existence or their connection to that Power. In that way the demon world knows which ones to haunt and try to find them off guard. The Lure Demon is the highest Tracker Demon."

"Great, how can we vanquish him?" Piper asked. Phoebe bowed over the Book of Shadows and read the last lines: "here: 'Only the Powers that are revealed by him can vanquish him, with their Power.' So only you two can vanquish him." Phoebe looked at Grissom and Sara, who looked back, rather shocked: "What do you mean 'vanquish'? As in kill him?"

"Exactly, I am sorry, but that has to be done." Phoebe could see that Sara wasn't sure about this tidbit of information. "Listen Sara, these demons are not going to stop killing innocents if you give them a slap on the wrist and locking them up isn't going to help, because they will break out, easily enough. We only vanquish demons that are threat to innocent non-magical people."

"I once made the mistake of not killing a demon. I locked him up in a very strong person, who was very able at keeping the demon under control, but in the end the demon did manage to take control. He almost killed an innocent woman. I cleaned up the mess, but I will never ever attempt something like that." Aelithe told the others in the room, only to stress the point Phoebe was trying to make. "We wish there was another way, but we have to protect the innocents. That is our job, keep the magical world hidden and keep the demons from wreaking havoc in our world." Grissom was the first to speak: "That might be so, but we don't know how to vanquish him." Grissom had considerable less objections to vanquishing doctor Lurie then Sara. Grissom also knew why, Sara valued live, very much, even for people who did terrible things, she rather saw them suffer then die. To die was way to easy for some of the criminals they sometimes saw. Grissom continued: "Do we need to shoot him? And besides: we don't know where he is."

"Well first things first: you can't shoot him, because most likely that won't effect him in the slightest. You have to vanquish him with the Power of Love."

"How do we go about that, because we don't know anything about the Power of Love, accept that it exists. Like we told you, we never used magical powers before."

"That is why the Elders want us to focus on helping you to control and tap into your powers. Your powers will also grow with time." Leo explained.

"And I have a way of finding dr. Lurie, when the time comes." Aelithe spoke up.

"Why do we need to vanquish him?" Sara was still not convinced.

"Because he killed Debbie Marlin and her boyfriend." Grissom grimly said.

"You said that there wasn't enough evidence to support that." Sara said, slightly surprised at the emotion that was radiating off of Grissom. He was usually very good at hiding his emotions, God knew he had done that long enough when it concerned his emotions for her.

"All evidence we had gotten pointed to Dr. Lurie. He was a cold, manipulative man."

"Still no reason to kill him." Sara was also getting slightly agitated. All the new things they had heard and especially this last bit of information was getting to her.

"Reason enough for me, he killed someone he loved, because she left him." Grissom was doing something very unlike Grissom and started to ramble, he felt like he could let go all the anger he had felt towards dr. Lurie, and that felt good. His normal placid, objective way was flying out of the window and Sara could see it. So could the others. Grissom could feel that he was slipping, he was getting very emotional, the case still had a strong hold on him. He could feel the emotions that were flowing through his system, he could see that also Sara was emotional and tired. She took a step back, because she could see the raw emotions in Grissom's eyes and then for some reason she looked down. She saw all kinds of insects crawling around Grissom's feet, like little soldiers they were standing around him, waiting for the demand, that would be uttered by the general. Sara knew she had to do something, she felt that Grissom could do a lot of damage if he carried on in this way. "Gil, calm down." It didn't have any effect: "Gilbert." Sara looked into his eyes and implored him to calm down. Slowly, very slowly Grissom started to relax, first his eyes, then his face and then his shoulders, arms and the rest of his body. Not discouraged by the insects Sara took several steps forward and reached out for his arm, still looking into his eyes, and there she saw what had triggered this outburst. It was fear. "Gil, you are not like him. You would not kill me, out of jealousy. And I am never going to leave you. You are not dr. Lurie, you are dr. Gilbert Grissom, entomologist, csi."

"I could have been him."

"But you didn't, because the love you feel for me is purer then the love he felt for Debbie. What we share is pure, you would let me go, because you want me to be happy. I am happy with you. The love we feel does not judge, is not rude and not self-seeking. Okay?"

"Okay." Grissom hugged Sara, feeling his body relax to the last muscle.

* * *

"Are you alright?" Aelithe asked, effectively bringing Sara and Grissom back to the things at hand. Grissom and Sara reluctantly let go off each other. Grissom sighed and then said: "Yes, sorry."

"It's okay, this showed our point, your emotions trigger your powers. Which in your case would be summoning and controlling insects, Grissom." Phoebe reassured Grissom and explained.

"So what are my powers?" Sara asked, wondering about them. She could very easy see how Grissom's powers were an extension of him. But for herself she wasn't sure.

"Well, when you were talking to Grissom some metal objects started to move. And with what you told us about the forest, makes me think that it might have something to do with magnetism and maybe gravity. But we haven't seen your powers work to the fullest extend yet." Piper said, she turned her attention to Grissom: "Could you feel the emotion flowing through your body?"

"Yes and the power behind those emotions. It reminded me how powerful emotions are."

"Well that power is what fuels your magical powers. You need to channel that power into your magical powers. You've got to allow your emotions to surface, but not to control your every move." Sara knew that Grissom would have no problem with the last part. Everyone knew that he was very good at making sure that emotions didn't rule him. And she knew that ever since they were together he was getting better at showing his emotions and allowing them. At that time Grissom's mobile started ringing, looking and feeling for the offending piece of equipment, Grissom located it in his trouser pocket. He flipped it open and looked at the caller ID. "It's Brass." he informed Sara. She nodded and with an apologetic gaze at his hosts he picked up. "He Brass…I've got the night off. So has Sara…Really?...No…Yes…Wait we will come, give is twenty minutes." He closed his cell phone and looked at Sara. "They found another body, at exactly the same spot as our last body. In the forest. We have to get there."

"Wait, exactly the same place?" Aelithe reconfirmed.

"Yes, why?"

"I think it might be a trap."

"Do you have a way of knowing?"

"I think it is time for me to call in a favour. We need to know what the demon world know."

"We don't have much time. Can't we do it after this?"

"No, I think Aelithe is right. This Lure demon sets traps, that is how he finds out who holds the Powers and triggers the Powers. This could be a trap, we can't risk it."

"Brass said that the surroundings were the same, this body appeared to have the same bugs." Grissom supplied, he was not someone who liked to wait to long to get to a crime scene, but he rather find out whether or not this was a trap, then to risk Sara's and his life. "Fine, if you can find out whether or not this is a trap, I would much rather have you check that, before we go to the scene. How do you want to find it out?"

"Well I have a favour with a low-ranking demon. He is not really dangerous, but is occasionally on the wrong place on the wrong time. He picks up interesting things. But I don't want him to see you, and I want you here. So I'm going to cast a small spell that will make you invisible for him, but not for him. You do have to remain silent, this demon has exceptionally sharp ears." Aelithe explained, while she moved some chairs around and waved for the charmed ones to stand in a circle. "The demon I am going to call can be vanquished by this potion. Don't use it unless there is no other way." Aelithe passed around several phials with a green substance in it. She then grabbed Grissom and Sara and placed them behind the chairs. "Stay here and duck when things heat up. Are you ready?"

"As ready as we will ever be, I believe." Sara said as she took a deep breath. Grissom grabbed her hand and squeezed it reassuringly. Aelithe walked to the middle of the room and turned towards Grissom and Sara: "Keep, what we want to hide, from the other ones sight." She then turned around and lifted her head to the sealing and called out: "Lothar, I want to even the score. I'm calling in the favour you owe me. Show yourself."

For several seconds nothing happened, then out of nothing they heard a pop and amidst some smoke a figure arose. He was green and instead of hear his head was covered from his eyebrows over his head to his back with dark green scales. He didn't have ears, just two holes on the sides of his head, where his ears should have been. With feral eyes he looked around, but Phoebe could see that this demon wasn't a cold-blooded killer, like many other demons. "What do you want Aelithe?" He asked as he focussed on her.

"What I told you, when I called. I'm calling in the favour you owe me."

"What do you need?"

"Information."

"Information? What kind of information?"

"The kind only you can give me. I need to know what is going on in the demon world."

"There is a lot going on. You need to be more specific."

"What do you know on the movements of the Lure demon?"

"Lurie? You need to know about him?"

"Yes."

"For the last four years he has been trying to reveal the Power of Love."

"He didn't have any luck?"

"Well, it is rumoured that the guardians of the Power of Love are ignorant of the power they hold. Four years ago he set the first trap. He killed a young woman, that resembled one of the supposed guardians. He intended for the other to become emotional and reveal the powers he held." Before Lothar could continue Aelithe interrupted him: "He intended? It didn't work?"

"No. Some say that he miscalculated. His victim became obsessed and grew tired, that made him loose some control over his emotions, but also had drained him so far that he couldn't do anything magical. According to Lurie he was sure that the people he thought were the guardians, were the right people, but it was very hard to prove that. Yesterday he set his next trap, he was afraid to do anything before that, something with him recognizing Lurie. Anyway, this trap got interrupted by another demon. It supposedly work, but no one is sure, so he is setting up the trap the same way. According to Lurie the guy gets interested in bug invested bodies and serial killings. So he killed another woman today, to try to get them himself, make them reveal themselves."

"Does he have names?"

"A doctor Grissom and miss Sidle."

"Which demon interrupted the trap Lurie set?"

"Oh, Marlon."

"Marlon?! What did he want?"

"I don't know. Is this enough?"

"Yes. I consider your debt paid. Where are you going to go?"

"I am glad that you understand the predicament I find myself in. I don't know. I wish I could start a club for magical creatures. But I don't know if I can do that here, after this episode."

"Go to this address. She will help you." Aelithe quickly wrote something down.

"The Siren? You do know that she moved here to find the Power of Love, to feed on it's passion?" Lothar had a mischievous gleam in his eyes, as if he would bash Aelithe's believes, but Aelithe showed no surprise.

"She never told me, but I always thought she had an ulterior motive. She can't feed on the passion of the guardians of the Power of Love. Something that pure will kill her. Besides, most likely the guardians are immune to her kiss and song. If she doesn't want to take you in, let her come here. I will talk to her."

"Thank you."

"One thing, Lothar, I hope you can start that club and I will be sure to come to the opening. Good luck." Aelithe waved goodbye.

"Good bye." With a wave of his hand Lothar disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Quickly Aelithe turned around: "Okay, we know it's a trap, but we know that so we have a slight advantage. You have to hurry and get there, before Lothar thinks of informing Lurie, I doubt he will, but you never know." Grissom looked at Aelithe stunned: "How are we going to get him?" clearly meaning Lurie. "I mean, we have never before used our powers and we don't know anything like spells or things."

"Neither did we when we got our powers. Rely on your instinct and for the spell." Phoebe stood still, trying to remember something. Then she knew, she remembered the day that she had said the incantation in the Book of Shadows and what had followed. She remembered the talk she and her sisters had had with her ancestor. She had provided them with the first and most powerful incantation the sisters knew: 'The power of three will set you free.'. "Can you remember anything your mother or father used to say to you, something you had to remember above all?" Phoebe looked at Grissom and Sara, seeing confusion, fear and bewilderment. She could also see that Sara was trying to remember something, Phoebe encouraged her: "No matter how stupid it may sound, please it is important."

"Well, my mother used to tell me to remember that love would rise above."

"My mother would say that also." Grissom remembered suddenly.

"Okay, when you're uncertain start chanting that. Don't worry, we will also be there, but we cant promise you that we will be able to help you. Let's go." Phoebe motioned for everybody to gather around and take each others hands. Leo and Paige orbed the group to the forest.

* * *

The group materialized in the forest, just away from the body. Phoebe started to talk: "Okay, Piper, Paige, Aelithe, Leo and me will hide here, you go on and do your jobs." She nudged Grissom and Sara towards the police that was standing several feet away. Grissom and Sara walked towards Brass, they had seen stand a bit away. "Brass, we are here."

"Where did you come from?" Sara quickly said: "We parked the car on the other side, we wanted to come here through the forest, see which way the man had ran yesterday."

"Okay." Brass wasn't completely sure: "Well watch out, the officers have strict orders not to leave you alone. The body is here, it is the exactly the same place." Brass walked them to the roped of area. With one look Grissom saw that the scene was exactly like it had been last night. "You're right Brass. It's the same. We will process and compare the case with yesterday's case."

"Good, I hate to do this, but I've got to go. These officers are going to stay here."

"Okay, thank you Brass." Brass turned around and walked to his car. For the next fifteen minutes nothing happened. Grissom and Sara just worked. Nothing was out of the ordinary, except for the dead body. But then Grissom heard someone step into the crime scene, while he knew that Sara was next to him. Grissom looked up from his work, to see who interrupted the crime scene. Sara noticed the same and also looked up. A menacing voice said: "Well, Doctor Grissom, we finally meet again." Grissom slowly rose, helping Sara up at the same time.

"So it seems dr. Lurie." Grissom said as he looked into the cold eyes of doctor Vincent Lurie, the Lure Demon.

**Author note: well that's it for now. I can't remember how the Charmed ones got their first incantation in the series, but this is how they found out in the book, and the book is based on the series, so I hope it's good. Now can anyone guess who the Siren might be? Oh and review please? **


	11. To outsmart Dr Lurie with Love

**author note: I want to thank all people who have sent me those beautiful reviews. I apologize for taking so long before updating again, but I've been writing Marrying two workaholics, I needed to get that out of my system first and there have been some very important speedskating matches the past several weeks. In two weeks there will be the World Championships Speedskating, per distance, YES!!!! So anyway here is a new chapter, I hope you like it.**

To outsmart dr. Lurie with Love 

Sara looked at Dr. Lurie, he looked just like she had remembered him. He had greying hair and was very long, what she hadn't seen before were the cold eyes that sized her up. Sara could feel the shivers running up her spine, this was not a pleasant man. When he started to talk Sara gathered that his voice matched his eyes, it was cold and sharp: "Ah, the resemblance indeed is cunning." Lurie said, after he had run his eyes up and down Sara's appearance. Keeping her voice void of emotion Sara replied: "I personally didn't see the resemblance, but I guess it's the eye of the beholder that makes that call." Sara mentally and physically straightened her back, refusing to buckle under the cold eyes. "You even have the same spirit, you don't know when you should shut up, this is not really about you. This is more between me and dr. Grissom here." Lurie dismissed Sara, turning his attention to Grissom. Sara also turned to Grissom, when she saw that Lurie turned to him. Grissom saw the fire in Sara's eyes and could almost feel the indignation rushing through Sara's systems. From experience Grissom knew that Sara didn't like to be dismissed, because she was considered unimportant or unworthy of equal treatment, it made her work harder at proving the other one wrong. Grissom couldn't speak any reassuring words, he had to pay attention to Lurie, to make sure he made a mistake that would help them to overpower Lurie. Grissom hoped that Sara would understand and pick up on the small smile he had thrown her, before physically turning away from her towards Lurie. Sara remained at Grissom's side, neither retreating or stepping forward, they were equals, especially on this battleground, they were both equally inexperienced and would need each other. Lurie demanded Grissom's attention as he started to talk: "Did you like that surprise? Seeing someone who resembled the woman you love dead, thinking for a brief moment that it was Sara, who was lying there in a pool of blood? You couldn't let it go, could you, you pushed yourself to find the killer, because you needed to understand right? You needed to understand how someone could kill the most beautiful woman in the world. You needed to know that I wasn't like you, but I was, wasn't I? It scared you didn't it? But most off all you were mad, mad at me and yourself. Your Powers should have revealed themselves that day, it was a surprise to me that they didn't. In the end it was my mistake, you had pushed yourself to far. My bad, but my next attempt was going to be better, I was going to do, what that lowlife demon Marlon did: threaten Sara's life. That would surely release the emotions you keep hidden and with them the Powers you have."

"If the Powers have been revealed now, why do it again?" Grissom asked, showing no emotions.

"Pride. It was my trap that revealed your Powers, I was the one who found the Power of Love, not Marlon. My trap was perfect, actually now it is even better, now it is a serial killing, with bugs, your biggest turn-on. The case was going to get your attention."

"How come you were sure that I was going to take Sara with me?"

"Are you kidding me, you hadn't worked with her in three months, you were bound to ask her to come with you. Anyway, my first trap was my best work ever. Do you know that revealing the Power of Love has been the most difficult to reveal?"

"No, I didn't."

"Well it was, because no one knew where to look, but I followed the clues and found you. I was the first, and I was going to reveal you. The trap was perfect, because it was going to flood your system with emotions: you were scared, anxious, angry, confused, frustrated, even glad, when you realised that Debbie wasn't Sara. If it hadn't been for your damn determination the Power of Love would have been revealed that night, but no, you sir, had to show that you could crack that case. Even if it took you all your energy. And you had to show that you could truly keep all those emotions under control. You are a serious control freak, even now you keep your emotions under control. Your acting as if all the things that I am saying don't effect you."

"I prefer to think with my head, instead of my heart. Emotions cloud ones mind." Grissom simply and calmly said. Lurie looked at him, temporarily speechless, for several moments no one spoke. Sara was looking at Lurie, but her attention was not really on the conversation, from the moment Lurie had dismissed her, as if she was a nuisance, she had had a peculiar feeling. Something was wrong, it felt unnatural, but not completely. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but she was trying to find out what it was. Something in their direct environment was off. In the few moment of silence Sara looked down and could see insects gathered around Grissom's feet, showing that he was using his powers. Sara once again looked at Lurie, who didn't seem to realise that Grissom was in fact using his powers, it could give them a small advantage. Her attention was briefly snapped back to Lurie as he started to speak: "Here is what I don't understand: how can you hold the great Power of Love if you are incapable of showing your emotions? The Power of Love gets it's power from the emotions of love, you seem incapable of showing that." Sara didn't have to hear Grissom's answer, she knew what he would say and Sara knew that Grissom felt love. He felt it deeply, but didn't feel the need to show it in public.

"The fact that something isn't visible, doesn't mean it isn't there." Grissom, true to form, said. With his answer Lurie made it evident that he didn't understand what Grissom meant: "Whatever, you know I don't envy you: love makes a person weak."

"You may think that, it doesn't necessarily mean it's true." Grissom said, Sara was not at all confused by his answers, they were cryptical, a style Grissom often used to confuse and outsmart the suspects they encountered during their work. Lurie looked at him, dumbfounded. He shook his head, as if trying to get Grissom's riddles out of his head and then resumed to look at Grissom: "You know what, I don't buy it. I don't think you love this woman. You do nothing to try and protect her, nothing from your behaviour tells me that you love her."

"I don't need to protect her. She has been in a life threatening situation three times, she got herself out of those almost unharmed. Our love is based on equality, neither is better then the other."

"Right and you believe that." Lurie scoffed, not believing any off it. Sara decided that it was time to speak up: "Well it's true."

"I thought I told you to keep your mouth shut, bitch." Lurie yelled at her. Sara didn't even flinch, not at his outburst and what happened right after Lurie's outburst: "Don't talk in such demeaning tones to her." Grissom calmly said, with the rage radiating off his eyes. Three seconds later Lurie started to swat his legs. He broke eye contact with Sara and Grissom to look at his legs: "Jesus, where are those bugs coming from?" He followed the steady stream of marching insects to Grissom's feet. Lurie stood up, looking at Grissom: "You can control bugs? Figures. Do you really think those bugs are going to stop me from killing you two. I don't need my feet to do this." Lurie held his hand up and conjured up a fireball and threw it to Sara. Sara immediately threw her arm up in front of her face, in an age old gesture to protect her face. She felt the air around her thicken and vibrate away from her, the fireball seemed to bounce on a wall and went flying back to Lurie, who just in time stepped backwards. "What powers do you have?" Lurie asked her, as the fireball once more bounced on an invisible wall and fell on the ground. Instead of answering him, Sara asked a question: "What did you do in this forest?"

"Oh, you noticed my little force field, did you?"

"A force field?"

"Yes to make sure you can't leave and no one can come in. The crime scene tape really helped to outline the borders of the force field. Anyone outside the crime scene can't come in, so your friends will be helpless, when they see you die. I placed some crystals on the corners." Lurie pointed. Sara followed his hand and saw a crystal lying under the crime scene tape. She immediately knew that she had felt the force field as the odd thing in the environment, it seemed to vibrate a bit and she picked those vibrations up. As Sara named the waves 'vibrations' she was reminded of something, that was not at all relevant to the matter at hand, but needed to be researched later. Filing it away for later use, Sara turned her attention back to Lurie, she could feel Grissom doing the same. There was a silence and for all three in the force field it was apparent that either way someone was going to die, who and how were still undetermined. Lurie had opened the fight with his fireball, or technically it had been Grissom with his insects. It was all action-reaction. Lurie realised that Sara was still unsure of her powers and put up a menacing smile. "You don't know what powers you have. You don't know what you can do. And you Dr. Grissom can only set insects on me, sure they hurt, but they can't kill me."

"Sure they can. Some have very poisonous stings or bites."

"But they can't kill me, before I kill you two." Lurie said as he conjured up another fireball, this time he aimed at Grissom. Sara quickly threw her arms in front of Grissom, once more deflecting the fireball. Lurie once again sidestepped his own fireball.

"What are you going to do? There are more demons then you will ever know. They will all want that stupid Power of Love. I don't know why, because Love only gives you weaknesses. It makes you weak and reveals how you can be taken down. You don't know your powers, you won't last long in our world, you are not tough enough for the magical world." Lurie ranted as he stepped closer and closer. Grissom grabbed Sara's hand and together started to chant what they had been told to by Phoebe: "The Power of Love will rise above." Time and time again, both could feel their believe in the Power of Love grow stronger and stronger. There were no visual effects to the chanting, no sound or wind or wall rose, the surroundings remained exactly the same. But Lurie didn't seem to be able to come closer, in a last attempt he shouted: "The Power of Love will perish, it won't rise above and it won't protect you. Love only makes you weak." Then suddenly Lurie blew up, in a split second he was gone. Sara and Grissom stopped chanting and looked at the place were Lurie until very recently had stood. "No, the Power of Love makes you stronger." Grissom whispered, believing it with his heart and mind. He then pulled Sara in a hug, closing his eyes, placing an arm around her waist, pulling her close, holding her head to his shoulder with his other hand. For what seemed like minutes they stood there. Grissom suddenly heard a wonderful sound: the joyful laughter of Sara Sidle. Surprised he looked at her, he hadn't anticipated on a laughing Sara, the matter was hardly a laughing matter. Grissom released his hold on her: "What is so funny?"

"Well, this seems like self combustion, doesn't it?" Sara said, looking at Grissom, with a glint in her eyes. Grissom grinned: "Well he could have combusted, because of our power directed at him." Sara pouted and lightly swatted Grissom's shoulder: "Oh, shut up. Come on let's go home." Grissom released her and Sara walked to one of the crystals and picked it up. Instantly she felt that the force field was lifted, the fact that a red light appeared and retreated into the ground also helped.

* * *

Piper, Phoebe, Paige, Aelithe and Leo walked to Grissom and Sara, Phoebe was the first to talk: "We saw everything, good work. Shall we go home?"

"Could you take us to our home? I would like to take a shower and get some clean clothes." Sara asked, Phoebe nodded. "I'm going to Brass." Grissom said, Sara turned to him: "What are you going to say to him?"

"That we are done, we take the evidence to the lab and process it. If it comes back to Lurie, the police will attempt to find him. They won't and it will become a unresolved case. If the evidence comes back different we follow it. I think it will eventually become an unsolved case." Grissom said. It seemed the best solution. Ten minutes later the group orbed in Grissom's and Sara's home.

**Author note: I hope you liked it, please write me reviews, I love them. There will definitly be a chapter with the Siren, but I don't know when yet, so stay tuned. Oh I am going to start a new story in a couple of days: Regency: CSI. I personally like were it is going, but it needs some tweaking. In the meantime, please review.**


	12. Aelithe's story

**Author note: Okay a short quick chapter, hope you like it anyway.**

Aelithe's story

"You really do like bugs, don't you?" Paige asked Grissom as she stood in front of one of the many displays with mounted insects, that adorned the walls. Grissom came to stand next to her, to watch the display, which was of several grasshoppers. "They are called insects, and yes I really like insects. They always tell me the truth. These are grasshoppers."

"All of them?"

"Yes, some don't look like the ordinary grasshoppers, but they are."

"Almost like demons, they don't look like demons on first glance, but they are." Paige commented, turning away from the display, walking to the next one, butterflies. "Why are you so interested in insects? How did that happen?"

"I always liked insects, from the first time I saw them. It's what I have always known." Grissom said as he followed Paige to the next display.

"I like butterflies and ladybugs."

"Everyone seems to like them, they are beautiful and therefore can't be dangerous. But they are still insects. The ladybug is a beetle, just like the dung beetle, but the dung beetle doesn't have bright colours. Other beetles are shunned, because they have pincers, they look dangerous, but mostly they aren't."

"Appearances isn't everything, right?" Paige said, smirking. Grissom smiled back. "you must be talking about insects." A voice behind them said, Grissom and Paige turned and saw a freshly washed Sara standing behind them. "He only smiles like that if the subject is insects." Sara clarified. Grissom laughed, and put his arm around Sara's shoulders, drawing her near, an kissed her forehead: "Ah, you know me so well, Sar." Sara simply laughed.

Piper interrupted them: "Are you ready? Then we should go."

"Go where?" Grissom asked.

"Well, we wanted to take you back to Aelithe's place, so we can try to train you to use your powers."

"Actually, I have a question Aelithe. Would you mind staying here for just a while longer?" Sara asked, turning to Aelithe.

"Okay. What do you want to ask?" Aelithe asked Sara. Sara first indicated for all to come and sit down. "Do you want something to drink?" She then asked, turning away to walk to the kitchen. "Some orange juice." "Just a glass of water." "Lemonade, please." Came from different mouths. Ten minutes later everybody was seated, with a drink in their hands, looking expectantly at Sara. Sara took that as a cue to start talking: "When we were standing across from Lurie, I felt something was wrong, it felt as if there was something in the environment which shouldn't be there, but was natural. It turned out to be the force field. As I broke it, by lifting the crystal, I understood how I could have felt the force field. I felt it's vibrations, or I picked up on the vibrations of the force field. That made me realise something, right then it wasn't important, because we had Lurie to think about, but I need a clarification. You see, Aelithe, this wasn't the first time my life has been in peril. Once I was held in a mental institution by a patient, he had a shard of ceramics pushed against my throat. But this patient was rambling on and on about vibrations and vibrating at a wrong level. At the time I thought that it was just the mad ramblings of someone who had lost touch with reality, but now I think that he might have picked up on this magical thing. Is that possible, that a non magical person picks up on magical powers?" Sara watched Aelithe and saw the shock register on her face.

"Who was this patient?"

"Adam Trent." Grissom gruffly replied, not wanting to be reminded of that episode in Sara's life. It was the first time he had seen Sara in peril and he didn't like it then and still didn't like it. He saw how Aelithe hung her head, sensing something was wrong Grissom asked: "What is it Aelithe? Was he a demon?"

Aelithe lifted her head and looked at Grissom first and then turned to Sara: "Do you remember that I warned you about not vanquishing Lurie?"

"Yes, you told us that it was the only way, we could stop him."

"Yes, I told you I once, the very first time I had to vanquish a demon, couldn't do it and tried to contain the demon in someone strong. That person was Adam Trent, I placed a demon inside him, thinking that Adam could control the demon. I was wrong. The demon drove Adam crazy. Adam had already been convicted to go to the mental institution, when I placed the demon inside him, as an extra precaution I picked someone who was never going to be free ever again. The demon started to get more and more control over Adam."

"How did you know that?" Sara interrupted Aelithe.

"I kept taps on Adam. I had to, I felt like it was my responsibility."

"It was." Piper said and Grissom nodded.

"I know. Listen I am not trying to tell you it was good what I did, but I was seventeen, I had just learned I was a witch. I was at a loss and couldn't wrap my mind around it, that I should kill someone. It seems wrong."

"I understand." Sara said, knowing what Aelithe would have felt, because she felt the same thing when they told her that she and Grissom should vanquish Lurie. Aelithe looked at Sara appreciative, before continuing her story: "Like I said, I have always felt bad about it. I knew that the demon was getting more and more control. I tried to vanquish him before people were getting hurt."

"Well someone did get hurt." Grissom said, slightly bitter. Sara snapped her head to him and placed a hand on his knee, slightly shifting her head from side to side, indicating he shouldn't react to it.

"Yes, I couldn't reach him in time. You were the woman he almost killed?"

"Yes, he held me, but in the end stabbed his own neck."

"I know, he died."

"Why did he stab himself?"

"It was the only way in which the demon thought he could be released out of the mortal body. It didn't work out the way he wanted. He didn't die from that wound, I vanquished him, but Adam had lost to much blood, so he died. I heard his mother died in prison." Aelithe said, completing her story. For several moment no one spoke, Sara broke the silence: "We always thought his mother would die without him…So that is the second demon we encountered without knowing it. How many demons are there?"

"Countless, it isn't about numbers, because some demons, such as Lothar are no danger to us." Aelithe said. "Okay." Sara said as she rose to collect the glasses and brought them to the kitchen, Grissom followed her.

* * *

"She is not the reason Adam Trent held me, Grissom." Sara said, as she washed the glasses, well aware of the emotions Grissom was controlling. "Of course she is."

"No, Adam Trent was already in the mental institution, when she placed the demon inside of him. I'm not saying what she did was the right thing to do, I wouldn't do it, but I can understand that she was hesitant to kill someone. There is no telling what Adam Trent would have done, had he not been possessed by a demon, the similar thing might have happened. Aelithe didn't kill Robbie, the mother did, that is why we were there. Wrong place, wrong time." Sara turned around and watched Grissom, searching his eyes to see what he was thinking. "How do we know that she is telling the truth, not sugar coating?"

"Sugar coating?! Come on Griss. She told us she made a mistake, it's difficult to admit mistakes. She could have told us that Adam Trent was just a mental patient, and she would be telling the truth, but she told us more, I see no reason not to believe her or trust her."

"Okay." Grissom said. Together they returned to the living room.

"Sara you said that you have been in life threatening situations before? There is Adam Trent and Marlon, have there been more situations?" Phoebe asked. Sara and Grissom looked at each other. "Yes, I have been placed under a car in the dessert. Left to die." Sara said.

"Who did that to you?"

"Nathalie Davis." Sara calmly said.

"I heard about her, wasn't she the Miniature Killer?" Aelithe asked.

"Yes, that would be her. Is she a demon also?"

"I don't know, I have never heard off her before, but we could check at my place." Aelithe said.

"Shall we go? Then we can help you train your powers and see if we can find something on this Natalie David character." Paige rose and extended her hands, nonverbally asking everyone to hold on to each other. In a cloud of blue lights the group disappeared from Grissom's and Sara's home.

**Author note: I wrote this chapter in a very short period, please tell me what you thought. So I guess I am asking you to review, yes, please submit a review on this chapter, Please?**


	13. The Siren

**Author Note: Okay, next chapter is done. It was a bit difficult so please tell me what you think. I love holidays!**

The Siren

When the group had materialized in the hall of Aelithe's home, Piper and Leo announced that they needed to check with their sons: "Listen, we really have to go and see Wyatt and Chris, can we leave you here?" Leo said.

"Ehm, sure, I mean teaching to use your powers doesn't require five persons." Aelithe said.

"Can you and Phoebe handle it alone?" Paige asked Aelithe, who turned to her, with a question in her eyes. "I want to go to Magic School, see how the students are doing, they are still my responsibility." Paige explained.

"Phoebe, can we do this together?" Aelithe asked, turning to Phoebe, who responded positively: "Of course we can do this together, you go ahead Paige. Piper and Leo say 'hi' to my nephews." They nodded and then orbed out, leaving Grissom, Sara, Phoebe and Aelithe in the hall. "Let's go to the living room." Aelithe turned to walk away, Sara stopped her: "Can I use your rest room?"

"Sure, it's the second door on the left." Aelithe pointed. Sara walked away as Aelithe, Phoebe and Grissom stepped into the living room. "I must say Grissom, the name Nathalie Davis doesn't ring a bell with me. I know the Book of Shadow very well, but I have never seen that name in it." Phoebe started to talk as she and Grissom stepped into the living room, because they were looking at each other, they didn't notice the visitor. Their attention was drawn to the visitor by Aelithe, who addressed the woman who was seated at the sofa. The woman had beautiful dark brown hair and was dressed in a corset and skirt. Her hair was twirled on top of her head, not one strand was out of place. The make-up she wore accentuated her lips and eyes perfectly. "Ah, I was expecting you." Aelithe said. Phoebe and Grissom turned their attention to the woman seated on the couch, and both couldn't hide their surprise as both spoke up in the same moment: "Heather." Grissom said. "What is a Siren doing here?" Phoebe asked. Heather rose from her seat and Aelithe alternated her sight between Grissom, Phoebe and Heather, not knowing where to start, but the decision was made for her as Phoebe started to raise her voice: "Cole killed you. I saw him do it." Heather focused her attention on Phoebe and answered her: "I think this Cole guy killed one of my sisters. Did you really think that there was only one Siren? I don't even know anyone that goes by that name." Phoebe was not truly convinced, but Aelithe took the last bit of doubt away: "Heather has never left Las Vegas. But I did hear about someone who killed a Siren in San Fransisco. The Siren bit a little too much she could chew, I heard, trying to finish the Source?"

"Oh, I heard about that. Cole was the Source of all Evil? And he loved you?! Wow figure that, talk about Romeo and Juliet, that even trumps the marriage of one of the Charmed Ones to a White Lighter: a witch and a demon." Heather almost seemed in awe.

"Well at least Piper and Leo did last." Phoebe sharply retorted. Heather simply raised an eyebrow and said to Aelithe, without turning away from Phoebe: "You have some powerful friends here, Aelithe. One of the Charmed Ones or possibly all?"

"None of your business, Heather." Aelithe answered her, curtly: "Phoebe, Heather has my permission to come and visit me. I already expected her. She is my guest." Aelithe looked at Phoebe, who nodded. At the word 'guest' Heather turned to Aelithe: "Talking about guests: I have one, whom I did not invite. I heard you invited him on my part."

"Lothar."

"Yes, I don't want him in my home, Aelithe. He is occupying a room and I can not use him in my business. What do you want me to do?"

"I want you to give him some time to open the bar he wants to open. He helped me and needed a safe place for a couple of days."

"So you shove him into my care?"

"I knew you could help him and had some space to spare."

"I would appreciate it if you consulted with me first, before just sending people to me, who use my space and don't pay for it. I still have to be able to work." Heather snapped.

"Do I have to remind you, who made sure you can work here?"

"No, I know the agreement we have. I get to live as long as I don't kill." Heather recited, rolling her eyes. "Good." Aelithe nodded, before she could continue, Sara came in: "You know Griss, I think I know…" Sara had her eyes trained on Grissom and saw his eyes flicker to the side. She followed his eyesight and stopped talking. Sara straightened her back and lifted her head: "Miss Kessler." Sara said, slightly hesitantly and unsure. Sara turned her head back to Grissom and questioningly lifted her eyebrows. Grissom in turn lifted his shoulders slightly. Sara turned her attention back to Heather who acknowledged Sara: "Miss Sidle, right?"

"Yes." A very uncomfortable silence fell over the room and no one felt the need to break it or knew how to. Sara was watching Heather, Grissom was watching Heather, Phoebe was watching Sara, Grissom and Aelithe, Heather was watching Sara and Grissom and Aelithe was watching everyone in the room. After several moments Phoebe and Aelithe looked at each other, in silent agreement Aelithe started to talk: "How do you know each other?" Aelithe asked no one specifically. Grissom was the only one to react, he turned his head to Aelithe: "Our paths have crossed four times, professionally."

"It feels like a bit more then just professional." Phoebe said. Sara and Heather were still eyeing each other. "Because it was a bit more then just professional, the first or second time, wasn't it Heather?" Sara said, not taking her eyes off of Heather.

"Is that the problem?" Heather retorted.

"No, not really, I didn't have a claim on him, still not really." Sara sweetly smiled.

"Do you feel threatened by me?"

"No, I trust Gil."

"Then why are you so hostile?"

"Because I don't trust you." Heather didn't have a response. Grissom couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt for what happened between him and Heather, but he also felt a great deal of pride to how Sara had rendered Heather speechless. Sara used the silence to pose her next question: "What are you doing here?"

"I had to square something with Aelithe. Not that it is any of your business." Sara briefly looked at Aelithe: "That is right. She is my guest." Aelithe confirmed. Sara nodded and broke the contact with Heather and went to stand next to Grissom. Aelithe addressed Heather: "I believe our business is done. I think you better leave, I'll come by for tea, okay?"

"I have one more question before I go. Are the rumours true?"

"What rumours?" Unsure of how to proceed Heather looked around. Aelithe seemed to understand her hesitation: "You can speak freely, they know."

"It is rumoured that the Power of Love has resurfaced. Is it true?" Heather asked excitedly.

"What is it to you?"

"I am just curious." Heather tried to look nonchalantly.

"Yeah right. Lothar told me that you wanted to feed on its passion. That wouldn't be true would it?" Aelithe asked, eyeing Heather suspiciously. Heather shrugs: "No of course not, we have an agreement."

"Good. It would have killed you."

"What do you mean?"

"For you, feeding on the passion of the Guardians of the Power of Love, would kill you. Their passion is solely based on love. You feed on the passion of lust, the fire of lust. The passion of the Power of Love would consume you, you can't control it, it's too pure. The guardians are also immune to your song."

"So that is why you didn't come." Heather said, pointing to Sara, taking everybody in the room by surprise. "Excuse me?"

"You didn't come when I sang my song for you, when I had him. You prevented me from having fun." Heather spat, pointing towards Grissom when she referred to a 'him'. The confusion was apparent on Sara's and Grissom's face. They looked at each other and then turned to Aelithe, hoping she could give them an answer. But Heather cut across her: "You two are the guardians aren't you? That is why I felt such a strong attraction to Grissom. Because the passion is so strong, your passion for Sara that is. Even then, you said you didn't have a claim on him, but the passion between you two was already raging wasn't it?" Heather said almost accusingly. Once more Sara and Grissom looked at Aelithe, Grissom voiced his confusion: "Could you please help us out, Aelithe?" Aelithe nodded: "Sure thing. Heather is a Siren, she feeds on passion, on the fire between two lovers. She and I made an agreement, she wouldn't kill people anymore and I let her run a business here in Las Vegas. However she was planning on feeding on the most powerful passion, the passion between the Guardians of the Power of Love. What she didn't know is that that passion would kill her. A Siren tricks her victims with a song, first the man, then she sings for the woman to come and watch her killing her man. No one can resist the song, except the Guardians."

"In case you weren't paying attention, you're the guardians." Heather spat out.

"We know that." Grissom calmly responded. Heather looked up surprised: "You knew?!" Grissom shrugged. Heather turned to Aelithe: "When did you find out?"

"Just a couple of days ago."

"Has Lothar helped you to find them? Is that why he is hiding with me?"

"Yes. He has helped, but he owned me a favour, so don't hold it against him."

"He's got to go. He can endanger my customers."

"No one knows where he is."

"They'll find out. Find another place for him. I've got to think of my innocent customers." Heather said, knowing Aelithe had an obligation to protect innocents. Phoebe could see that Aelithe was reluctant to admit she had made a mistake. "Aelithe, too many people know. The high ranking demons will want to find him, they wanted to get to the Power of Love before us, that didn't work, because of Lothar. They will hunt him down and you've got to think of the innocents."

"You are right. Okay, send him back, I'll find another place for him."

"Good. I think I'll leave now. See you next time, Grissom, Sara. I hope you have a good life." Heather nodded at them and then immediately walked out of the door. Aelithe followed her to show her the door.

* * *

Sara visibly relaxed as Heather left the room, she had accepted that Grissom shared a history with Heather, but that didn't make confrontations any easier. She could hear Grissom sigh slightly behind her, amused Sara turned to him. "Were you nervous? You were holding your breath." She added as an explanation. Grissom could see the smile in her eyes. "Isn't it always a bit tense to meet a former supposed lover with your current love?"

"I don't know, you tell me." Sara smiled. "Hé, don't worry, like I told Heather: I trust you."

"Thank you."

"I guess there are more magical creatures then we ever thought there could be."

"Yes, that is a worry." Grissom turned to Phoebe: "How can we be sure that someone is magical?"

"Well I don't know, you'll be able to recognise some, right away, like leprechauns. But others are harder to recognise. We have the Book of Shadows, I don't know if you'll get your own book or not. You can always ask Aelithe. Piper, Paige and I are not going to stay here for the rest of our lives, we need to get back home. Not right away, but eventually, when we have helped you get acquainted with your powers." Phoebe explained. Grissom and Sara nodded, they understood that they had to go home some day. Then Sara remembered what she was going to say to Grissom, before she had seen Heather in the room. "That reminds me. I think my powers might be related to physics."

"Physics?" Grissom turned back to Sara.

"Yes, think about it: magnetism, waves, vibrations and gravity. It is all linked to physics. And I have always been exceptionally good with physics, as if it didn't need explanation for me." Sara explained to Grissom.

"It does make sense." Grissom said, thinking back to the things that had happened the past days. The things that had happened around Sara were indeed things that defied the laws of physics. "So if we take that as the source of your powers, then how do we proceed from this point?" Grissom directed the question to Phoebe.

"Well, up until now you used powers instinctively. We or rather You have to figure out the extent of your powers, what they do and how to activate them. How to activate them consciously, instead of instinctively. You have to learn how to direct the powers and most importantly, you have to figure out what the Power of Love really does and entails." Phoebe summed up. Grissom then responded: "We also still have to work."

"Of course, listen working isn't a problem, Paige, Piper and I, we all have our jobs, it's just that you have to resign yourself to the fact that you are going to have more family problems. If you understand what I mean. You will need to leave your work on short notice sometimes. Especially the first few months might be difficult. Stick together, talk to each other and you'll be fine." Phoebe tried to reassure Grissom and Sara, who nodded.

"I think it is time to get started on that." Aelithe said, who had come back after saying goodbye to Heather. "Come on, let's go to the basement, I do all my fight training there. It is a nice open space." Aelithe led them to the basement, where Grissom and Sara spent the next hours trying to get some control on their powers, helped by Aelithe and Phoebe.

**Author Note: So I hope you liked it, please review. I think this story will get another two or three chapters, in one the Angel of Death will appear, but not to worry, I have no character deaths planned, I love Grissom and Sara too much to do that. So anyway, please review.**


	14. An acquaintance

**Author note: Hi, I am back for now, sorry it took so long, but real life came knocking on the door and I had to answer. I have had quite a busy period, but I managed to write this. I hope you like it and please review it. Enjoy!**

An acquaintance 

The next two weeks Grissom and Sara discovered their powers in the basement of Aelithe's home. The weeks passed without interference of magical creatures. Grissom and Sara however felt like their eyes had been opened and started to see more and more signs of magical creatures. They were learning to use magical potions and spells and feeling more and more confident that they would be able to deal with the turn that their lives had taken. The only thing that hadn't been dealt with yet, was the powers and responsibilities that came with the Power of Love. When Grissom once more asked for clarification on that point Phoebe answered: "We don't know really much about that. Only the things that the Book of Shadows tells us. Leo has asked the Elders, but they say that someone else will contact you and discuss those things. Sorry." With that the matter was resolved as far as Phoebe and Paige were concerned. Piper realised that Grissom and Sara wanted to hear something else: "Listen, we really don't know more then you on the Power of Love. Before we met you we had never heard of it. In time everything will be explained, have patience." Sara softly snorted at that. Grissom usually told everyone around him to be patient, evidence and tests couldn't be rushed. Only Grissom heard her snort and turned to her, raising his eyebrow. Sara merely lifted her shoulders and focused on the metal objects she was supposed to draw to herself. Sara couldn't appreciate the irony that fate had: for years she and Grissom had shared an attraction to each other, but it had taken Grissom several long years to react to that, now all Sara had to do was focus on an object and everything with the slightest hint of metal would fly to her. Sara had also learned how she could make a barrier using vibrations in the air, Sara had been right with her guess that her powers were all related with physics and she was very glad they were, with her education this meant that Sara had a good understanding of her powers and how to use them to her advantage. Grissom in turn had learned that he could summon every insect he knew and order and control every summoned insect. Because Grissom knew quite a lot of insects and their behaviours and ways of protecting themselves and inflicting harm on others, he also understood his power. Surprisingly Grissom and Sara could easily continue working in the Crime Lab.

After a long shift, Grissom and Sara returned home to get some sleep. They hadn't expected anyone to be in their home, but on the couch a man, clad in black with a neutral expression, was seated. Grissom was the first that had come in and saw the man. Sara noticed that Grissom had stopped walking and looked over his shoulder to see what had stalled Grissom, she saw the man that rose from his seat. His eyes were trained on Grissom. Sara could feel that Grissom had summoned some insects, the tiny vibrations rang threw her body clearly. Apparently the intruder had also noticed something: "You don't need to summon your little fighters."

"Who are you?" Grissom simply asked, not dismissing the crawling insects. Sara realised that Grissom was on his guard, he had been much more the last weeks.

"I am an acquaintance, or rather you and me have a mutual acquaintance."

"Who?"

"Death. I am the angel of Death. You take care of the living when someone dies, I take care of the one who dies." Something in his posture made Sara realise that he was telling the truth. But his identity didn't reveal why he was here, so Sara asked him: "We are not dead, why are you here?"

"I was sent here to tell you about your Power." That answer made Sara and Grissom visibly relax. "Why did they send you?"

"Because Death like Llove is neutral. It knows no right or wrong, it just is. You can't fight death, nor can you fight love. I believe that you have already discovered that." The man pointedly looked at Grissom. Somehow realising that it was Grissom who had most tried to fight love. Grissom saw no reason to deny it: "Yes. Let's sit down."

"I have to give you this." The angel of Death conjured up a book. Sara took it and together with Grissom looked at the cover. The book was old and looked like the Book of Shadows, except the title showed it was the Book of Eternity. Sara was reluctant to open the book in front of the man that had given it to them, she looked up to the face of the angel of Death. "It is the Book of Eternity, it is given to the guardians of Love, it contains information on magical creatures, demons and other information you need when you are the guardians of Love."

"Thank you." Sara didn't know what else there was to say.

"You don't have to thank me, it belongs to you for as long as you are the guardians of Love. I have to tell you more." Grissom and Sara lead the book down on the coffee table and turned their attention to the angel of Death. "Usually I have to teach people that death is objective, that it does not know good or bad. You two already know that. Love follows the same rules. Love knows no bad or good. Love knows no difference in skin colour, age, magical or non magical. Demons also fall in love. You, as the guardians of Love can be called upon to help anyone who has problems or misunderstands love. This means that you might have to help two demons who love each other, but don't want to admit it. You might have to help a non magical person come to terms with the fact that the person he or she loves has magical powers. You will have to educate people on love. But first and foremost you have to realise that Love is objective, it knows no good or bad. Exactly like the biblical verse says."

"Why have you come now and not before?"

"Because you were novices into the magical world, before you could take on this challenge, you had to know how to defend yourself. Do you have any other questions?"

"Yes, who can we call on when we need help?"

"You can always call on the Elders and I believe you have a witch friend in Las Vegas, you can always go to her."

"Will we meet you again?"

"Our paths will cross again, since we both deal with Death on a daily basis, but you might not get to see me, each time. When They deem the time has come for us to meet, we will see each other again." The Angel of Death looked to Grissom and Sara and saw that they had no other questions. With one final wave he disappeared, leaving Grissom and Sara alone to consider what had just had happened.

"Let's have a look at this Book of Eternity." Sara suggested, grabbing the Book from the coffee table. The first page depicted the picture that they had seen in the Book of Shadows. The next page told them the same things the Book of Shadows had told them about their powers and how they would be recognised. The following pages yielded more information on the magical world. They found a page with information on the Charmed Ones, the Halliwell sisters. They found a page on Aelithe, the Guider and Witch and they found a page on the Lure Demon, that they had defeated. Together they leaved through the Book and found information on all kinds of demons, Warlocks, Elves, Leprechauns and other magical creatures. They found additional information on the Angel of Death and the Elders and several recipes for potions and incantations. "Griss, we will need to go shopping, where do you think we can find these ingredients?" Sara pointed to an ingredient that was so foreign to her, that she couldn't pronounce it. Grissom smiled and nodded: "Maybe we should make sure no one finds those things in our home, they might think we practice dark magic."

"They wouldn't be far off." Sara pointed out, Grissom merely glanced at her. For the next hour they softly discussed the contends of the Book. Finally Sara looked up and said: "Maybe we should call the Halliwells and Aelithe, to let them know that we have gotten our Book."

"That is a good idea." But before Sara could reach out to grab the phone, someone knocked on their door. Sara opened the door and saw a mirror image of herself, standing on the doorstep. Before Sara could say anything the woman spoke: "Please, I didn't come to hurt you, I came to seek the help of the Guardians of Love." Sara saw from the corner of her eyes that Grissom was coming, as he stepped behind Sara, his response confirmed Sara's suspicions. "Debbie Marlin?" All though Sara had seen the woman on a slab, she hadn't been sure.

"I only assumed this image, so you would be intrigued. My real form is this." The woman changed before their eyes: her hear turned black and grew, her face got a ghostly white shade and her eyes turned a deep purple. "My name is Marlina and I need your help." Grissom and Sara recognised her as one of the Demons that had 'graced' the pages of their Book. Still slightly unsure, but remembering the words of the Angel of Death, they reluctantly let her in.

"Why do you need our help?"

"It is to break the evil curse that was cast upon me and another demon: Marlon. Every time he comes close to me, I can do nothing but stare at him and I turn into a mumbling dimwit. People have told me it is Love. I need you to break it, so I can be the great demon I am, with him present. How else is he going to notice me?" Sara and Grissom looked at each other, they were unsure who would start. This was a completely new terrain, when they were on a crime scene, they didn't need much more then a raised eyebrow to know what the other meant, but this was new. Somehow the silent agreement was made that Sara would start: "We can't break love, we guard it. We can help you understand it and accept it, but it won't go away because of a spell, just like it can't be conjured by a spell, it happens." This didn't seem to comfort the woman: "So it was no curse or spell?"

"No."

"Then how can I stop it? How can I stop feeling what I feel whenever Marlin is close? How can I show him that I am a great demon, worthy of his attention?"

"You can't stop feeling what you feel. It is in your heart, your heart tells you how you feel. Nothing will help you stop feeling the love you feel for Marlin."

"That is terrible, I am a great demon and I can't help becoming a mumbling dimwit when he is around? That won't do, you have to do something." Marlina pointed accusatory to Sara, who took one step back as Marlina stepped forward. Grissom intervened: "Do you ever feel anxious when Marlin is gone? When you know he might be in danger?"

"Yes, that is also annoying, how can I help when I am frightened of losing him? Although I have to tell you that sometimes that feeling makes me feel more powerful and ready to fight."

"That is also Love. Love doesn't have only bad sides, it doesn't make you weak. When you accept that you love someone, that Love can make you stronger."

"It can make me stronger?" Marlina hesitantly asked, clearly not convinced.

BANG!! With a white flash the front door was blown up. Shocked Grissom, Sara and Marlina looked at the gaping hole, where dust billowed up and down. After several seconds the silhouette became visible through the dust, it came running in to the house, shouting: "Keep your hands off her." Then the figure skidded to a halt a few feet away. The angry man focused his anger towards Grissom, pinning him with his eyes. Grissom didn't recognise the man standing before them, but he did recognise the danger that radiated off the man. Luckily Marlina knew the man: "Marlin, what the hell are you doing here?"

"I told you not to go and visit the Guardians, but you did. I am here to make sure you don't get vanquished."

"I can take care of myself, thank you very much." Marlina indignantly huffed. "Do you really think I would come here, without any protection? Yeesh, you really don't know me at all do you?"

"You won't let me get to know you. I am sorry, I thought you would need help. Don't you know that I am always worried about you?"

"You don't need to worry about me. I wanted to find a cure for this Love between us."

"Can they give us a cure?" Grissom and Sara had the distinct feeling that neither of the two demons were paying attention to them.

"Can you?" Marlina turned to Grissom and Sara. Sara negatively shook her head: "We already told you Marlina, we can't help you. Love is not a curse that can be broken."

"So what do you suggest we do?" Marlin asked, focussing on Grissom, clearly expecting an answer from him.

"Accept that you Love each other, turn your attention to the positive sides of Love, work together and grow stronger together. Don't fight what your heart tells you. Only by accepting that what is between you, you can turn your attention to resolving that tension. Your live will be much easier if you just accept that you Love each other."

"So you can do nothing about the uneasy feeling that we have when we are together?"

"It will go away once you have accepted that it is Love that makes you feel that way, you will grow more comfortable with each other and more confident in the presence of the other." Sara said.

"What if it doesn't work?" Marlina asked. Sara raised her shoulders: "What harm is there in trying, if it doesn't work then you can come back to us and we will try to find another way to help you."

"Okay, but if it doesn't work, we will be back and maybe we will just kill you then." Marlin said, clearly not happy with the way things had worked out. "Come Marlina let's go." Marlin lifted his arm, beckoning Marlina to stand next to him. Together turned around and vanished into thin air.

Grissom and Sara released a sigh, in the silence that had reigned in their home, it sounded impossibly loud. Neither knew what to say, so both opted to remain silent. Sara turned towards Grissom and subsided into his arms, where she stood just holding Grissom, letting the tension that had flowed through her body leave through him. Eventually Grissom laid his hands on Sara's shoulders and softly pushed her from him, he searched her eyes before he said: "Are you al right? No scratches from the exploding door?"

"No, you?"

"No I am fine. Lets hope our advice helps them." Sara simply nodded.


	15. Goodbye

**Author note: Okay, this is unfortunally the last chapter. I have had enormous fun writing this story and reading all your wonderful reviews, but this is the end for this story. I hope you like this last chapter as much as the others. Enjoy!**

Goodbye

"What happened here?" Grissom and Sara turned towards the four women that stood in the hallway, looking through the hole were a door used to sit. Sara motioned for Piper, Phoebe, Paige en Aelithe to come in. "We had two visitors."

"By the looks of it, they were demons." Phoebe said, inspecting the scorch marks on the doorframe.

"You are right, they were both demons." Sara said, walking to stand next to Phoebe.

"So did you vanquish them?" Paige asked, taking a seat on the couch, as Piper, Phoebe and Aelithe also turned to sit.

"No, we didn't vanquish them, we helped them."

"You helped them? Then how come your door is gone?"

"Well Marlon didn't have the patience to knock." Grissom simply said.

"Marlon? Is that the name of the demon?"

"Yes, of the male, the female was called Marlin." Grissom answered. Phoebe looked at him surprised: "As in Debbie Marlin?"

"Yes, turned out she can turn into anyone. She and Marlon love each other, but didn't understand it, they thought they were cursed."

"Why didn't you vanquish them?"

"Because they were here to find the advise or help of the Guardians of Love." Grissom started.

"We had to do our job, we had to tell them about Love, make them understand." Sara finished. Aelithe sat forward: "You mean to say that you understand your responsibilities as the Guardians of Love?"

"Yes, we had quite an interesting afternoon. We had a visit from the Angel of Death."

"He didn't come to take one of you away, or make you understand Death?" Piper asked, remembering the times that they had met the Angel of Death.

"No, he came to tell us about our responsibilities as the Guardians of Love. Love and Death both know no good or bad. It was his job to tell us, he also gave us the Book of Eternity." The shift was complete, the students had now become teachers, Sara and Grissom were more knowledgeable on the Power of Love and their responsibilities then the Halliwel sisters and Aelithe were. Grissom showed the book to the Halliwel sisters. They leaved through it, pausing on the page decorated with their own images.

"This is so weird, seeing myself standing in this book." Paige blurted out.

"You are right. Could you tell us what has happened?" Piper asked Grissom and Sara.

"Okay." Together Grissom and Sara told them what had happened after they had gotten back home from a long shift. They told them about the Angel of Death and what he had told them. They told them about Marlina and Marlon and how they gave them advice. "They had just left five minutes before you came." Sara closed the narrative.

"Wow, you've had a busy afternoon." Phoebe gasped.

"Yes, but everything is all right now, except that we have to replace the door and make up a story to explain what happened. Maybe an experiment gone wrong?" Sara suggested, with a sideway glance to Grissom, who scowled: "My experiment never go wrong, you are mistaken me with Greg. Beside I never experiment with explosives in the confinements of my house."

"Okay, but we have to find a plausible explanation." Sara laughed, quickly turning serious again.

"We have the Clean-up Crew here in Las Vegas." Aelithe said.

"The Clean-up Crew?" Grissom asked, clearly asking for an explanation.

"Yes, a group magical creatures, who clean up the mess left behind after a fight. They will be here soon. They will clean up and repair your door. No one will see a difference." She explained.

"But what about our neighbours, if they heard anything they would have called the police."

"The Clean-up Crew, will take care of those too. They rarely slip up." Aelithe reassured Grissom, who nodded.

"Aelithe, when we have questions can we call you. The angel of Death said we could, but I rather have your permission." Sara said, turning to Aelithe.

"Of course, I think I am also going to call on you, to help me cover something for the police. If it is necessary of course." Aelithe saw the apprehensive face of Grissom. He realised what he was doing and quickly made amends: "Yes of course you can call us. It is just that I will have to get used to covering up. I don't like unsolved cases and covering things up. Just give me some time, because I do understand that in some cases it might be necessary."

"Well maybe you can help solve some of those crimes, that can not be solved by the non magical police." Aelithe suggested.

"You do try to find out what has happened? You don't just cover up?" Sara asked slightly surprised.

"Of course I try to find out what has happened. The most cases that could possibly could make their way to the non magical world, are possibly dangerous and often something has gone wrong in those cases. Sometimes it is a vanquishing gone wrong, sometimes it is a sign something is shifting in the magical world and sometimes it is someone overstepping his or her boundaries. In all those cases we have to know what it was to respond to it." Aelithe explained. Sara and Grissom nodded. For a few seconds everyone was silent, they knew what was coming, but no one felt the need to speed it up.

Piper stood and returned the Book to Sara: "I am glad you got the Book of Eternity, it will help you in your new roles as Guardians of Love." Sara stood also and accepted the Book: "Thank you Piper."

"You are welcome, however it is for me and my sisters time to say goodbye and return to San Fransisco. I wish you and Grissom all the luck and love in the world. Please know that you can always call on us when you need to."

"You can always come and visit us here. Thank you for all your help, trust and patience." Sara said, as she laid the Book on the table and hugged Piper. The others also stood and hugged Grissom and Sara. After everyone had hugged each other and had bid everyone goodbye the three sisters stood next to each other: "Blessed be."

"Blessed be." Sara, Grissom and Aelithe returned the wiccan greeting. Amidst a cloud of bleu lights the Halliwell sisters disappeared back to San Fransisco.

Aelithe turned to Sara and Grissom: "I am also going to go home, I will hear from you. Oh look the Clean up Crew have already fixed your door. They are very discrete." Sure enough the door was back in its place, the scorch marks were gone and everything looked as if nothing had happened. Grissom guided Aelithe to the door and closed the door behind her.

A salt and pepper haired man and a brown haired woman were walking in a park, they softly talked to each other, holding each others hand. He then raised his hand and picked something out of her hair, a small blue butterfly fluttered from his hand up to the sky. They looked like two ordinary people, nothing special, no one would guess that these two people held the Power of Love and guarded it.

**Author note: I have a very fague idea for a sequel, but it is still very fague. Hopefully in a while I will write a sequel with the csi team or something I don't know yet. I hope you liked this last chapter, please review, pretty, pretty please? (I am looking adoringly at you, batting my eyelashes.)**


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